The Southern Kings have named an unchanged starting line-up for their derby clash with the Stormers in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.
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The Eastern Cape side went down 48-18 to South African conference champions the Bulls in Pretoria last week, and they have been given a chance to redeem themselves against the Stormers this weekend.
The only change to the match-day squad sees lock Steven Sykes make a return from injury on the replacements bench, although he will be subject to further fitness tests later in the week to confirm his availability.
“We kept the same team apart from Steven [Sykes], who is a very experienced player and has been a regular in our starting XV all season – so Steven will come off the bench,” explained Director of Rugby Alan Solomons.
“He came through today’s [Tuesday’s] practice well but we have to see how it pans out tomorrow morning because sometimes there is a reaction,” he added.
Southern Kings: 15 SP Marais, 14 Marcello Sampson, 13 Ronnie Cooke, 12 Andries Strauss (captain), 11 Michael Killian, 10 Demetri Catrakilis, 9 Shaun Venter, 8 Jacques Engelbrecht, 7 Wimpie van der Walt, 6 Cornell du Preez, 5 Darron Nell, 4 David Bulbring, 3 Kevin Buys, 2 Bandise Maku, 1 Schalk Ferreira.
Replacements: 16 Grant Kemp, 17 Hannes Franklin, 18 Steven Sykes, 19 Devin Oosthuizen, 20 Nicolas Vergallo, 21 George Whitehead, 22 Shane Gates.
Date: Saturday 6 July
Venue: Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth
Kick-off: 17:05 SA Time (15:05 GMT)
Referee: Lourens van der Merwe (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Marius Jonker (South Africa), Christie du Preez (South Africa)
TMO: Deon van Blommestein (South Africa)
Surely the Kings must be starting to look towards the Promotion / Relegation series now?
Despite the doomsayers, I have a feeling that the Lions are in the right space mentally, and despite the low intensity of the majority of their “Lions Challenge” games predict a couple of cracking games.
Of course the Lions will be hoping for some stiff tests in their planned games v Griquas and the Bulls, and also that the Kings suffer some MAJOR injury blows in the last few SR games.
As soon as the Kings meet up with a side that spreads the ball, they are found wanting on defence. But with Stormers conservative game plan, I think they will allow the Kings some breathing room. But with Elton set to return to the Lions, he will be able to give some insight into the Kings
I think the Lions will beat the Kings in the play-offs and then we are in for another set of arguments on who naaid who and how badly SARU messed this up in the first place
Pity our sports is always ruined on way or the other
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