ISUZU SOUTHERN KINGS NAME SQUAD TO FACE OSPREYS

Rugby news from the Home of the Kings:

ISUZU SOUTHERN KINGS NAME SQUAD TO FACE OSPREYS:

The Isuzu Southern Kings have named their team that will take on Welsh side, Ospreys, in their last Guinness PRO14 home fixture for the 2018/19 season on Friday night.

The match will be played at Nelson Mandela University’s Madibaz Stadium with kick-off at 19h35.

After a lengthy period on the sidelines due to injury, former South African Sevens star Sibusiso Sithole will make a long-awaited return to the playing field, making his first appearance for the season in the starting lineup.

Sithole will form a midfield partnership with Berton Klaasen, who made his 50^th appearance for the Isuzu Southern Kings last week and is a replacement for the injured Tertius Kruger. Kruger sustained an ankle injury in Sunday’s 18-18 tie with Dragons.

In other changes in the backline, Ulrich Beyers will make a return to the starting lineup at No15 in the place of Masixole Banda, while Harlon Klaasen will start on the right wing where he replaces Michael Makase, who himself was a late replacement last week following a late hamstring injury to the Isuzu Southern Kings’ leading try-scorer Yaw Penxe.

In the forwards, exciting young prop Alulutho Tshakweni makes a return to the starting XV in a rotational switch with veteran, Schalk Ferreira, who will be on the bench this week.

Captain JC Astle will have a new starting lock partner in Stephan Greeff, who will get a start in the No4 jersey this week. Dries van Schalkwyk shifts to blindside flank where he replaces hard-tackling Tienie Burger, who has been ruled out of action with a shoulder injury.

Fijian, Meli Rokoua, will also make a return to the match-23 squad where he will provide backline cover alongside Banda. Schalk Oelofse has also been included on the bench to provide cover in the second row.

“We have had a few injuries that have forced us to make certain changes to our team,” Head Coach, Deon Davids, said.

“In certain positions we have rotated some of the players, and we are happy to see a guy like Sbura Sithole back in action as he gets his first run of the season after a frustrating time out with injuries.

“Ospreys is a good side with international players, and we expect a tough encounter against them this Friday. We will be playing our last match at home for this current season and we want to end it off on a high in front of our loyal home crowd.”

The Isuzu Southern Kings team is:

 

Shirt no.	Player (surname then first name)
15	Beyers Ulrich
14	Klaasen Harlon
13	Sithole Sibusiso
12	Klaasen Berton
11	Basson Bjorn
10	Pretorius Bader
9	Ungerer Stefan
1	Tshakweni Alulutho
2	Willemse Michael
3	Terblanche De-Jay
4	Greeff Stephan
5	Astle John-Charles ©
6	Ntsila Andisa
7	Van Schalkwyk Andries
8	Lerm Ruaan
Substitutes
16	Van Rooyen Alandre
17	Ferreira Schalk
18	Scholtz Pieter
19	Oelofse Schalk
20	De Wit Stephan
21	Van Rooyen Rudi
22	Banda Masixole
23	Rokoua Meli

 

ENDS             

Southern Kings