Kings to face Blue Bulls in first Currie Cup friendly
Eastern Province Kings Head Coach, Brent Janse van Rensburg has named his team to face the Blue Bulls in their first Currie Cup friendly at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth this Friday evening.
Centre Tim Whitehead will captain a fairly large squad of 26 players. With 11 players on the bench, van Rensburg said they would be looking at a process of rotation as they eased the squad back into match practice mode.
The starting lineup is mixed with a couple of old “new” faces, most noticeable being Schalk Ferreira and Jacques Engelbrecht.
There are also some new faces on the bench mixed with seasoned campaigners like Luke Watson and Lizo Gqoboka who will add some experience later in the game.
“We will use the next two games to give all the players an opportunity for some match time, without compromising the rhythm and continuity we will be trying to build up,” Janse van Rensburg said.
“For various reasons, several guys are not playing this week but we will look to bring them in for the game against Western Province (on July 25), while keeping a core of players for both matches.”
Veteran loose forward Luke Watson will start on the bench this week and Van Rensburg said they were managing the player’s return after he sustained a slight quad tear.
“Luke has been training hard and very well, but after a slight quad tear we are managing his return and we don’t want to rush him back this weekend,” Janse van Rensburg said. “But everybody will get a chance to play this weekend, with players limited to a maximum 50 minutes on the field.”
Janse van Rensburg said he was expecting a strong contest from the Blue Bulls.
“We know they have a number of young and very talented players in their ranks and we will be in for a very good contest,” he said. “The Bulls will be very keen to do well in the Currie Cup and while they will have their traditional strong forward play, I expect them to test us with ball in hand as well.”
The Kings coach said he felt the two games would provide the best preparation for the Kings team.
“I think the two games is a good balance because we had a few new players joining the squad and it’s given them time to find their feet,” Janse van Rensburg said. “It has also given us more time to prepare for the season, without having that match against the Sharks four weeks before the start of Currie Cup.”
EP Kings:
1 Schalk Ferreira 2 Michael van Vuuren 3 Basil Short 4 Stefan Willemse 5 Steven Sykes (vice-captain) 6 Thembelani Bholi 7 Jacques Engelbrecht 8 Tim Agaba 9 Kevin Luiters 10 George Whitehead 11 Luther Obi 12 Tim Whitehead (captain) 13 Ronnie Cooke 14 Siviwe Soyizwapi 15 Scott van Breda
Replacements:
16 Albe de Swardt 17 Tom Botha 18 Cameron Lindsay 19 Luke Watson 20 Enrico Acker 21 Karlo Aspeling 22 Tythan Adams 23 Lizo Gqoboka 24 Tazz Fuzani 25 JP du Plessis 26 Marlou van Niekerk.
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