Southern Kings coach, Deon Davids, made several changes to his side that suffered a heavy defeat to the Jaguares last week for their home clash this Saturday against the Blues in PE.
Sithembiso Sithole comes in at prop for Schalk Ferreira, who will miss the clash because of a hand injury sustained last weekend.
James Hall is due to start at scrumhalf in place of Ntando Kebe and Jurgen Visser now features at fullback in place of Jaco van Tonder.
Lock Schalk Oelofse is over the mild bout of concussion and returns on the bench.
Stats:
- This will be the first Vodacom Super Rugby encounter between the Kings and the Blues, though the South African side have lost their last three games against opponents from
- New Zealand, conceding 157 points in the process.
- The Kings have won two of their last four matches, though they conceded a team record 73 points in their most recent fixture against Jaguares.
- The Blues have won only one of their last 26 matches away from home and haven’t won in South Africa since Round 3, 2012.
- The Blues are the only team yet to score a try after forcing a turnover from the opposition so far this season while the Kings have done so seven times.
- The Kings are the only South African team with more than one player having won more than 10 turnovers so far this season (CJ Velleman 17, Chris Cloete 12).
Kings head coach, Deon Davids: “On Saturday it will be windy and rainy, so we opted to swap James [Hall] around with Ntando Kebe for tactical reasons.”
Teams:
- Southern Kings: 15 Jurgen Visser, 14 Lukhanyo Am, 13 Stefan Watermeyer, 12 Shane Gates, 11 Luzuko Vulindlu, 10 Elgar Watts, 9 James Hall, 8 Cyril-John Velleman, 7 Thembelani Bholi, 6 Chris Cloete, 5 John-Charles Astle, 4 Steven Sykes (captain), 3 Tom Botha, 2 Edgar Marutlulle, 1 Sithembiso Sithole. Replacements: 16 Martin Ferreira, 17 Justin Ackerman, 18 Jacobie Adriaanse, 19 Schalk Oelofse, 20 Stefan Willemse, 21 Ntando Kebe, 22 Louis Fouche, 23 Leighton Eksteen.
- Blues: 15. Lolagi Visinia, 14. Melani Nanai, 13. George Moala, 12. Pierts Francis, 11. Tevita Li, 10. Ihaia West, 9. Bryn Hall, 8. Steven Luatua, 7. Tanerau Latimer, 6. Jerome Kaino, 5. Josh Bekhuis, 4. Patrick Tuipoluto, 3. Ofa Tu’ungafasi, 2. James Parsons (Captain), 1. Sam Prattley. Replacements: 16. Matt Moulds, 17. Nic Mayhew, 18. Charlie Faumuina, 19. Hoani Matenga, 20. Kara Pryor, 21. Billy Guyton, 22. Matt McGahan, 23. Male Sa’u
Date: Saturday, 7 May 2016
SA Time: 17h10
Venue: Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth
Referee: Federico Anselmi
Assistant Referees: Rasta Rasivhenge, Archie Sehlako
Television Match Official: Christie du Preez
Alan Straton
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