Team Announcement: Southern Kings v Dragons
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading...Minimal changes to the starting XV but some tinkering when it came to the replacements was the outcome when Southern Kings Head Coach Deon Davids named his team to take on the Dragons in a GUINNESS PRO14 fixture to be played at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium tomorrow (Friday) evening.
Back on home soil after a difficult 3 match tour of Europe, Davids decided to keep faith with the bulk of the players who started against Leinster last weekend. There is a single change in the backline where Masixole Banda returns in place of Yaw Penxe whilst the forward pack sees Andisa Ntsila returned to his favoured position at number 6 flank from the number eight spot he occupied against Leinster. Ruaan Lerm returns to the run-on XV in the number eight position vacated by Ntsila.
There was greater selection activity on the bench where the experienced Kurt Coleman (flyhalf) and Dries Van Schalkwyk (loose forward) are returned to the match day 23 at the expense of Eital Bredenkamp and Barend Janse Van Rensburg. Scrum half Godlen Masimla also comes in place of Juan-Philip Smith.
Michael Willemse, who was one of the Kings players to show up well against Leinster – scoring a try – will once again captain the team from the hooker position.
Still searching for a first win in this year’s GUINNESS PRO14 Championship the Kings are determined to celebrate their return to familiar conditions with a good performance against a Dragons team that they ran quite close in the corresponding away fixture.
“Every team in an international competition like this presents a tough challenge and the Dragons are no different but I expect a strong reaction from my team to last week’s blowout against Leinster. Everyone is determined to make up for what was a bad day at the office. We’ve played really well at times this season and it’s now time we put in an 80-minute performance at that level. If we execute properly and cut down on some basic errors then we’ll be in with a shout. Errors at this level are severely punished,” said Coach Davids.
He added that the team were looking forward to playing in home conditions again after three weeks in the icy chill of one of Europe’s coldest winters in years.
Tomorrow’s match kicks off is at 19h35 and gates open at 17:30. Catch all the action live on DSTV live on SuperSport.
TEAM SHEET
15 Masixole Banda
14 Michael Makase
13 Berton Klaasen
12 Luzuko Vulindlu
11 Anthonie Volmink
10 Martin Du Toit
9 Rowan Gouws
1 Schalk Ferreira
2 Michael Willemse (C)
3 Pieter Scholtz
4 Stephan Greeff
5 Bobby De Wee
6 Andisa Ntsila
7 Martinus Burger
8 Ruaan Lerm
SUBSTITUTES
16 Stephan Coetzee
17 Johan Smith
18 Luvuyo Pupuma
19 Lindokuhle Welemu
20 Andries Van Schalkwyk
21 Godlen Masimla
22 Kurt Coleman
23 Jacques Nel
Related Posts
« Appetising Gauteng derby at Loftus – Vodacom Super Rugby Round 3 Preview Dragons team to face Southern Kings »
