Flank Wilhelm Koch has been named as captain of the Royal XV that will take on the British & Irish Lions in their opening tour match at the Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace in Phokeng, near Rustenburg, on Saturday.
The Royal’s XV coach Chaka Willemse has included a strong contingent from the recent Vodacom Cup-winning Griquas side in his starting XV.
Rugby 365 reports that eleven players from Griquas and four from the Leopards were included in the starting XV.
Only one player from the Pumas, replacement scrumhalf Jacques Coetzee, made the side.
Koch, a relative of former Springbok prop Chris Koch, who played against the Lions in
1955, will lead the charge in the tour opener.
Willemse gave preference to players with Super 14 experience and has selected a good halfback pairing in Griquas flyhalf Naas Olivier and his teammate Sarel Pretorius at scrumhalf.
Both played for the Cheetahs this season.
Deon van Rensburg (Lions centre), Bjorn Basson (Cheetahs wing) and Bees Roux (Cheetahs prop) are other members of the team that played regularly at Super 14 level this season.
Royal XV: 15 Russell Jeacocks, 14 Egon Seconds, 13 Deon van Rensburg, 12 Hanno Coetzee, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Naas Olivier, 9 Sarel Pretorius, 8 Jonathan Mokuena, 7 Devon Raubenheimer, 6 Wilhelm Koch (captain), 5 Jacques Lombaard, 4 Rudi Mathee, 3 Bees Roux, 2 Rayno Barnes, 1 Albertus Buckle.
Replacements: 16 Pellow van der Westhuizen, 17 Stef Roberts, 18 Rynard Landman, 19 RW Kember, 20 Jacques Coetzee, 21 Riaan Viljoen, 22 Jovan Bowles.
Date: Saturday, May 30
Venue: Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Rustenburg
Kick-off: 15.00 (13.00 GMT)
Referee: Marius Jonker
Assistant referee: Jaco Peyper, Reuben Rossouw
TMO: Shaun Veldsman
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I don’t expect these guys to win but I do expect nothing less than some good “softening up” of the Lions players.
I thought the game will be played in Kimberley, i just made a Royal Poepol of myself 😳 Aint the S14 final at 3 aswell?
i dont know the guy but i hear this Riaan Viljoen has some potential, apparently it was his kicking that beat the bulls and sharks in the VC.
how did u know who predict this game, who is going to have the moeviese turn around 😆
@JarsonX (Comment 2) :
Final is at 17:30 SA time.
Get to a pub and make a day of it.
Lunch at 1
Lions at 3
Final at 5:30
Taxi home at 9
@JarsonX (Comment 4) :
you know how to check other predictions on SB right? 😉
@KSA Shark © (Comment 6) : no? If i did i wouldnt have been 43th on SB, I’d follow Robs lead 😆 but i’ll figure it out
@JarsonX (Comment 7) :
First up. You can only see the other picks AFTER you have made yours. 😉
Next to the Superbru logo is the Menu. One of the options is “picks” if you scroll over it with your cursor, one of the options that appears is “view picks and results”
If you click on that you can see what everyone else has picked.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 8) : damn 😆 New Goal: NB! Hack RD’s Brain
The Bok’s warm-up game kick-off 19:00 SA time (18:00 Namibian Time).
Contact Supersport regarding the coverage of match, unfortunately they do not have rights for warm-up games…Who the hell have the right then, wonder, maybe SABC 👿 👿 👿
doesn’t this just highlight the depth of the bulls. and we wonder why the sharks always fall short. the bulls are playing in the final, yet thay have extras to send off to namibia and royal xv. and they are decent enough to play in these teams. how many sharks benchers deserve a spot. adolf needs to relook at his talent spotters.
@Charlie (Comment 10) :
Not having the rights is the easiest answer for them. it’s another way of saying we can’t make any money out of it so we ain’t interested.
What are you worried about, you have flu, so you won’t be on TV anyway. 😉
@try time (superrugby’s kryptonite is SANZAR) (Comment 11) :
Bulls in the Royal XV????????????? Where?
@KSA Shark © (Comment 12) :
@Charlie (Comment 10) :
SS1 Schedule on Friday:
15:30 – 16:00 Golf show Sunshine Tour Monthly
16:00 – 19:00 Golf Euro PGA: European Open Day 2
19:00 – 19:30 Golf European Tour Weekly
19:30 – 20:00 Golf Inside The PGA Tour
4.5 hours of golf, great stuff! WHy would anyone be interested in the Bok hopefulls when we can watch some live, and old golf?
@KSA Shark © (Comment 12) : 😆
@Baldrick (Comment 15) : 😯 😯 😯
kind of disappointing that Mathee is playing at lock, not flank. Wanted to see what he has to offer as a blindside option. Since we *had* him and then let him go and now sit without any cover at 7…