{"id":22042,"date":"2013-08-21T19:40:20","date_gmt":"2013-08-21T17:40:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/ep-kings-vs-down-touch-griffons\/"},"modified":"2013-08-21T19:40:20","modified_gmt":"2013-08-21T17:40:20","slug":"ep-kings-vs-down-touch-griffons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/ep-kings-vs-down-touch-griffons\/","title":{"rendered":"EP Kings vs Down Touch Griffons"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The EP Kings<\/a> first division side will be looking to prove a point when they run out against the Down Touch Griffons at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Friday night, building on a solid performance that saw them lose by one point in the dying minutes of the game against the Pumas last week.<\/p>\n

Currie Cup head coach, David Maidza, said there had been a few significant changes to the team, as steps were taken to manage players who had come through from a long season in Super Rugby.<\/p>\n

Maidza said both locks from last week, namely captain Darron Nell and Steven Sykes, had picked up slight niggles from the game against the Pumas.<\/p>\n

Maidza said Tiger Mangweni would take over the captaincy, with Hannes Franklin taking up the vice captaincy role.<\/p>\n

Wayne Stevens comes in for Ronnie Cooke, who has a slight shoulder injury,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Maidza said Siyanda Grey was not available for selection, as he had to attend a funeral, while Charl Du Plessis came back into the side after his father passed away last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe entire squad feels for what Charl has gone through these past few weeks, but I think what he wants to do is come back. I think he\u2019s in the right headspace, and he wants to come back and play,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Reviewing last week\u2019s performance, Maidza said the side had definitely stepped up and had delivered a good performance against the Pumas, especially as the side had only played together for a short space of time.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur ball retention wasn\u2019t as great as I would have liked to see it, and there were a couple of opportunities where we left some points on the field, but it was a definite improvement,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Vice Captain, Hannes Franklin said there was pressure on the team to perform well against the Griffons. \u201cWe want to perform; we\u2019re definitely looking forward to the remainder of the Currie Cup campaign and putting ourselves in a good position for the play offs to come. We definitely want to defend the title,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

EP Kings<\/a> team to play Griffons at NMB Stadium, Port Elizabeth<\/a> on Friday 23 August 2013:<\/strong><\/p>\n