Former Western Province Currie Cup winner Demetri Catrakilis is back in the Southern Kings starting team as one of only three changes to the side that drew with the Brumbies in Canberra last week.
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The Kings conclude their Vodacom Super Rugby tour of New Zealand and Australia against the Rebels in Melbourne on Friday, and will be pleased to have Catrakilis back in the No10 jersey. A late injury issue last week forced him to drop to the bench at the 11th hour, although he did come onto the field late in the game to kick the conversion that drew the game with the crack Australian outfit.
The Kings have a completely new halfback pairing, as Catrakilis will be joined in the side by Shaun Venter, who is back at scrumhalf after also being benched last week. George Whitehead, who stood in for Catrakilis against the Brumbies, moves back to fullback, where he was initially selected for last week’s game, with Siviwe “Sharkes” Sozyizwapi moving to the bench.
“The structure of the 22 worked really well and the team put on a great performance against the Brumbies last week,” he said.
Solomons said the team had built a good foundation in the game against the Brumbies and were looking to keep the momentum moving forward.
“The key for us is that we delivered a good performance against the Brumbies and we now want to build on that in the game against the Rebels,” he said.
Southern Kings team: George Whitehead, Ronnie Cooke, Waylon Murray, Andries Strauss (captain), Sergeal Petersen, Demetri Catrakilis, Shaun Venter, Cornell du Preez, Wimpie van der Walt, Devin Oosthuizen, Rynier Bernado, Steven Sykes, Grant Kemp, Hannes Franklin, Schalk Ferreira.
Replacements: Bandise Maku, Kevin Buys, David Bulbring, Jacques Engelbrecht, Nicolas Vergallo, Marcello Sampson, Siviwe Soyzwapi.