The Southern Kings have announced their team to take on the Hurricanes in their second game of their Australasia tour.
Southern Kings Director of Rugby, Alan Solomons, said the team will be led by Andries Strauss, who returns after recovering from a bruised AC joint, and will be joined by Steven Sykes, who has recovered from the knock he took during the Chiefs game and takes up the vice Captaincy role.
“Apart from Andries the back line remains exactly the same. The bench is a little different because we’ve retained Waylon Murray on the bench,” he said.
Solomons said Hadleigh Parkes had been selected on the bench as he has the ability to play 12, 13 Wing and Fullback, having played Fullback for the Auckland Blues, which was why he was selected over Elric Van Vuuren.
“Grant Kemp also comes onto the bench, with Daniel Adongo, who moves from the starting 15 onto the bench to make way for Sykes,” he said.
Hanness Franklin, who has recovered from his torn knee ligaments, also joins the team on the bench.
Cornell Du Preez will sit the game out due to a tight hamstring, with Devin Oosthuizen coming up in his place in the starting 15 and Rynier Bernardo coming onto the bench.
Head coach Matt Sexton said they’re very pleased at having both Strauss and Sykes back, as they bring tremendous leadership and experience to the squad.
Sexton said the team had settled in and preparations were going well.
“We’ve done some previews and have been looking at the footage around the Hurricanes, so we can prepare ourselves for a great performance on Saturday,” he said. Sexton said the team had worked hard on various aspects ahead of the game.
“If we give them the same time and space and momentum as we did last weekend against the Crusaders it will be another long day. So we’ve been working pretty hard on making sure that doesn’t happen, as well as making sure that we hold onto the ball through phases.”
The full Southern Kings team to me the Hurricanes is:
- Starting Line-up: 1. Schalk Ferreira, 2. Bandise Maku, 3. Kevin Buys, 4. Steven Sykes (VC), 5. David Bulbring, 6. Devin Oosthuizen, 7. Wimpie van der Walt, 8. Jacques Engelbrecht, 9. Shaun Venter, 10. Demetri Catrakilis, 11. Marcello Sampson, 12. Andries Strauss (C), 13. Ronnie Cooke, 14. Sergeal Petersen, 15. George Whitehead.
- Replacements: 16. Hannes Franklin (FR), 17. Grant Kemp (FR), 18. Rynier Bernardo, 19. Daniel Adongo, 20. Nicolas Vergallo, 21. Waylon Murray, 22. Hadleigh Parkes.
The Hurricanes Team:
- Starting Line-up: Andre Taylor, Alapati Leiua / Matt Proctor, Conrad Smith (captain) / Alapati Leiua, Tim Bateman, Julian Savea, Beauden Barrett, TJ Perenara / Chris Smylie, Victor Vito, Karl Lowe, Brad Shields, Jason Eaton, Jeremy Thrush, Ben May, Dane Coles, Ben Franks.
- Replacements: Ash Dixon, Reggie Goodes, Mark Reddish, Faifili Levave, Chris Smylie / Samisoni Fisilau, James Marshall, Reynold Lee-Lo.
