“We don’t know what to expect except that they will come in hard”; said EP Kings Captain Mzawandile Stick today of the upcoming Friday 25 February rugby match against Namibia.
“Namibia will be very motivated as they are playing for places in the Namibian World Cup team,” concurred coach Alan Solomons.
The EP Kings ‘holiday’ is now over and the season starts in earnest this Friday. The true test to see whether 6 weeks of conditioning to up the base fitness of the team and a rude introduction to contact rugby over three games against the Blue Bulls, Lions and Cheetahs will now pay off and propel the EP Kings effortlessly through the Vodacom Cup.
Two weeks of rest should have prepared the Kings well for their Friday game against a team that recently beat a weakened Blue Bulls side.
Without revealing the game plan Stick said that the EP Kings need to win the Vodacom Cup in such a manner that will send a message that they are ready for Super Rugby. Many fans (sorry, Alan, SUPPORTERS) would love to see a clean sweep of wins with NO points scored against. Now that would surely be a clear message that the Kings are a powerhouse of note.
Fridays game will mark Mzwandile Sticks return to the captaincy from injury and sees Hannes Franklin come in at Vice Captain. Hannes was quite upbeat about his leading the forwards and said; ” It’s a great privilege to be vice captain especially in a Kings team that is full of great leaders.”
A couple of injured players have depleted the Kings full strength – Paul Perez is having a scan on his knee on Thursday, Rory Duncan is having a knee attended to today and De Wet Barry is still out but making “good progress”.
The full team to play Namibia at 19h00 at the NMB Stadium on Friday is:
- Jaco Engels
- Hannes Franklin (Vice Captain)
- Andre Schlechter
- Barend Pieterse (in for the injured Rory Duncan)
- Ross Kennedy
- Darron Nell
- Mpho Mbiyoza
- Morne Hanekom
- Jacques Coetzee
- Mathew Tayler-Smith
- Milo Nqoro (replacing injured Paul Perez)
- Wayne Stevens
- Siyanda Grey
- Norman Nelson
- Mzwandile Stick (Captain)
- Frank Herne
- Ronnie Uys
- Lungelo Payi
- Boetie Brits
- Boela Abrahams
- Monty Dumond
- Jaco van Schalkwyk
The game will not be televised.
MyPE will be doing a live blog and keeping you up to date on the EP Kings vs Namibia game from around 18h30.
Alan Straton
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Ronnie Uys, Jacques Coetzee is die korrekte spelling.
Interessante keuses is 3 x losskakels sien 10,21,22.
Hier kom ‘n groot seisoen vir EP Kings
Thanks for the spelling corrections.
Monty and Jaco are pretty comfortable in any backline position. Mathew gets his first showing at Flyhalf so, ja, interesting times ahead.