Regular Kings skipper Luke Watson has failed to recover from a shoulder injury sustained against the Bulls last weekend and as such, former Cheetah lock Darren Nell will captain the EP Kings in a friendly game against the Stormers this weekend.
With playing resources already somewhat stretched across the region, as a result of the “other half” of the Kings franchise, comprising Border and SWD, having a midweek game against the Lions lined up, coach Alan Solomons hasn’t drafted anyone into the squad to cover for Watson. Former Sharks trialist Vleis Engelbrecht will take over from the former Stormers and Bath man at the back of the scrum, with Conrad Britz promoted from the bench to play flank in Engelbrecht’s stead.
Two former Sharks age group players are in line for bench spots; Border centre Dwayne Jenner and EP utility back Kieran Goss will both relish the opportunity to show what hey can do against big name opposition, as, of course, will all the other players in the Kings lineup.
The game kicks off at 5pm SA time on Saturday at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth. Newly-promoted Super Rugby panel ref Lourens van der Merwe will take care of the whistling duties.
Eastern Province Kings: 15 Tiger Mangweni, 14 Marcello Sampson, 13 Jaco Bekker, 12 Wayne Stevens, 11 Norman Nelson, 10 Shane Gates, 9 Falie Oelschig, 8 Jacques Engelbrecht, 7 Mpho Mbiyozo, 6 Conrad Britz, 5 David Bulbring, 4 Darron Nell (captain), 3 Clint Newland, 2 Hannes Franklin, 1 Jaco Engels.
Replacements – from: Bobby Dyer, Zane Killian, Andre Schlechter, Wayne van Heerden, Reynier Bernardo, Thembelani Bholi, Dustin Jinka, Earl Rose, Dwayne Jenner, Kieran Goss.
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Hi Rob, do you know if the Boland game will be televised? What time are they playing?
@mbay-shark (Comment 1) :
Game is not televised..
Kick off is at 19h00
That sucks…Thanks for the info.
I always imagined Dwayne Jenner being able to hold his own at a small union but this is quite a leap for Kieran Goss, an opport to play against a fairly strong Stormers team
Is any game on tv this weekend?
@Mutley (Comment 5) :
You can watch all the Six Nations action..
Haha I want to watch rugby not northern hemisphere excuse for rugby
@beet (Comment 4) : We’re becoming quite the feeder team for other unions.