Kings to face Eagles

The EP Kings are set to face the SWD Eagles at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth on Friday night. The Kings had a convincing 44 - 26 win over the Leopards a week ago in Potchefstroom,  picking up a bonus point in the process. The victory allowed the Kings to move to third place on the log one point less than second placed Eagles.

EP Kings head coach, David Maidza, said the only change to the starting line up from last week was that of Darron Nell, who was being rested following a slight niggle with his ankle.

“Thabo Mamojele comes up from the bench to take Nell’s place, while Siyabonga “Tiger” Mangweni takes over the captaincy,” said Maidza.

“Thabo has really been doing well as a substitute and has been playing well the whole season,” said Maidza.

Maidza said Wayne van Heerden would come up to the bench for Mamojele, while Kayle van Zyl would come up to the bench in place of Dwayne Kelly, as part of normal squad rotation.

Matches between these two sides are always close encounters, with the Kings edging the first leg in George 35 - 34 with 2 minutes to go.

“We know it is going to be a tough game, they always bring their A game and I doubt that that will change this weekend,” he said.

Maidza said that while the SWD Eagles did tend to leak tries, they were a competent side and strong on attack.

“We have looked at various aspects of their game and will be looking to utilise the opportunities that are presented to us,” he said.

Mangweni said the team would also be focusing on maintaining discipline during the game.

“Discipline has been a key focus for us the past two weeks, with or without the ball, and the results have shown, and we are doing much better,” he said.

Mangweni said the team was motivated following their two consecutive wins, but the focus remained on the game ahead, rather than the possibility of securing a semi final.

“We are taking eachgame as it comes; we’re not looking at that yet. We must just do our best and deal with the game at hand,” he said.

With only a handful of games remaining before the play-offs, the Kings cant afford to slip up against the Eagles, as the Leopards (32 points) in 4th and Boland (28 points) in 5th are also still in the race for a home semi final.

  

EP Kings: 

15 Scott van Breda 14 Michael Killian 13 Wayne Stevens 12 Siyabonga Mangweni (C) 11 Marcello Sampson 10 George Whitehead 9 Nicolas Vergallo 8 Cornell du Preez 7 Tim Agaba 6 Devin Oosthuizen 5 Thabo Mamojele 4 Samora Fihlani 3 Charl du Plessis 2 Hannes Franklin (V/C) 1 Brenden Olivier

Replacements: 

16 Boetie Britz 17 Lizo Gqoboka 18 Wayne van Heerden 19 Stefan Willemse 20 Kayle van Zyl 21 Ntabeni Dukisa 22 Brian Skosana