Eastern Province u19 to face Free State

There are six changes including a position swop in the starting line up of the Eastern Province U19 team that will face the Free State U19s in Durban on Saturday at 12 noon.

Head Coach, Mzwandile Stick, said the changes made had been tactical, rather than motivated by injury.

“At the moment the only player who is out with injury is Chris Whitting,” he said.

Stick said he had made the decision to rest some players who were not on form, while giving others the opportunity to start.

Up front Dave Murray and JP Jaimeson are joined by James Beyl, who comes up off the bench for Whitting. Wynand Grassmann and Sintu Manjezi retain their positions to make up the tight five. They are joined by the loose trio of CJ Velleman, Tyler Paul and Elandre van der Merwe, who comes up from the bench to replace Mihlali Nchukana at eighth man.

Kewan Gibb comes in at scrumhalf for Jason Vers, who moves to the bench, with Jason Baggot moving from scrumhalf to flyhalf.

“Baggot is a great defender and has a solid pass, so we thought we would give him a chance at flyhalf and see how it goes,” said Stick.

On the wings are Lindelwe Zungu and Yamkela Nyalambisa, with Luan Nieuwoudt and Dylan Peterson at inside and outside centre respectively. Malcolm Jaer once again comes on as fullback.

Stick said Dylan, who has joined the U19 from the Sharks Academy, had been training with the squad and was looking forward to his first game.

“We have been playing well, if you look at the second half of the Blue Bulls and even the game last week against the Golden Lions, we have played well, but we have not converted that into points,” said Stick.

He said he was especially impressed with the forwards, under the guidance of coach Wayne van Heerden.

“I have made it clear to the boys that we simply cannot let these opportunities go past without making use of them,” he said.

Eastern Province u19:

1  David Murray 2 Jean-Pierre Jamieson 3 James Beyl 4 Wynand Grassmann 5 Sintu Manjezi 6 Cyril-John Velleman (c) 7 Tyler Paul 8 Elandre van der Merwe 9 Kewan Gibb 10 Jasson Baggott 11 Lindelwe Zungu 12 Luan Nieuwoudt (vc) 13 Dylan Peterson 14 Yamkela Nyalambisa 15 Malcolm Jaer

Reserves:

16 Arno Lotter 17 Matthew Jackson 18 Thembelihle Yase 19 Gerrit Huisamen 20 Jayson Reinecke 21 Jason Vers 22 Thabani Mgugudo 23 Julio Abels