Today the Southern Kings announced the team that will be taking part against the Lions at Ellis Park on Saturday, 9 February.
The team is:
- Backs: Elric van Vuuren, Marcello Sampson, Wayne Stevens (vice captain) Hadleigh Parkes, Siyanda Grey, Wesley Dunlop, Johan Herbst.
- Forwards: Lizo Gqoboko, Boetie Britz, Grant Kemp, Tomas Leonardi, Darron Nell (captain) Rynier Bernado, Mpho Mbiyozo, Jacques Engelbrecht.
- Replacements: Dane van der Westhuizen, Khwezi Mkhafu, Ross Gelbenhuys, Daniel Adongo, Thabo Mamojelle, Scott Mathie, George Whitehead and Scott van Breda
Director of Rugby, Alan Solomons, said circumstances had dictated the nature of the team.
“We have taken a number of injuries to our players, which means that to a large degree the selection of our squad was taken out of our hands,” he said.
Solomons said following medical advice the following players were not available to field:
- S.P. Marais, who had only just been cleared for contact training sessions
- Siviwe “Shakes” Soyizwapi, who had suffered a back strain last week during practice, and was out for two to four weeks.
- Demetri Catrakilis who was still recovering from a sore shoulder and who has only recently been cleared for full contact.
- Shaun Venter, who was suffering from a groin strain following the match against SWD Franchise XV over the weekend.
- Kevin Buys, who had a stiff back after the SWD game, and who had not been cleared by medical.
- Virgile Lacombe, who popped a rib during the SWD game and who was out for three to six weeks.
- Steven Sykes, who was still undergoing rehab following last season, and would not be played following medical advice.
- Luke Watson had only just begun full training following his ankle injury last year, and would not be available following medical advice.
“The positive from this though, is that circumstances have given us the opportunity to allow our wider squad to take part,” said Solomons.
Solomons said he was confident that Darron Nell would do well in the position of captain, having had to sit out previous warm up matches due to injury.
