Elgar Watts
Flyhalf Elgar Watts will make his 1st start for the Eastern Province Kings for their match against the Vodacom Blue Bulls in Pretoria on Friday.
The talented Watts, who replaces Karlo Aspeling, has played from the bench in the Kings’ last 2 matches and now gets a chance to establish himself as the frontrunner for the pivot position.
“We feel that Elgar has picked up enough rhythm and confidence to start against the Bulls and we will be looking to him to get things going,” Kings coach Brent Janse van Rensburg said.
In 2 changes to the forwards, flank Thembelani Bholi and prop Lizo Gqoboka are back in the starting line-up, replacing Paul Schoeman and Schalk Ferreira respectively.
Schoeman has had some outstanding performances in recent weeks, but Bholi has also shone and Janse van Rensburg said they were giving the combination of Bholi, Stefan Willemse and Jacques Engelbrecht the chance to play together.
He confirmed, as well, that Gqoboka was on the mend after a leg injury.
“Lizo is back after a ‘dead’ leg and he came through today’s session without any problems. He has been well looked after by the medical staff and will be ready to play on Friday,” Janse van Rensburg added.
While there is an air of excitement introduced by the release of the 2016 Super Rugby fixtures on Monday, which sees the Southern Kings returning to the competition, Janse van Rensburg said they were focused firmly on their last 2 Currie Cup matches.
“Having Super Rugby back is exciting but the Currie Cup season is not over. We are focused only on that and we want to finish the season off with good performances. We will be aiming for consistency from the players and to be accurate and efficient in our play at all times,” he stated.
The Kings, who scored a thrilling win over Griquas last weekend, follow Friday’s Bulls game with a clash against Western Province in Cape Town on 9 October.
Eastern Province Kings: 15 Scott van Breda, 14 Sylvian Mahuza, 13 JP du Plessis, 12 Tim Whitehead (Captain), 11 Luther Obi, 10 Elgar Watts, 9 Enrico Acker, 8 Vleis Engelbrecht, 7 Stefan Willemse, 6 Thembelani Bholi, 5 Cornell Hess, 4 Steven Sykes, 3 Tom Botha, 2 Martin Ferreira, 1Lizo Gqoboka
Replacements: 16 Edgar Marutlulle, 17 Schalk Ferreira, 18 Simon Kerrod, 19 Paul Schoeman, 20 Tim Agaba, 21 Dwayne Kelly, 22 Karlo Aspeling.
Date: Friday 2 October
Venue: Loftus Versveld, Pretoria
Kick-Off: 19:10 SA Time (17:10 GMT)
Referee: Lesego Legoete
Assistant Referees: AJ Jacobs, Francois Pretorius
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