Kings team to face Sharks announced

The Kings have announced the team for the Round 4 clash with the Sharks at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday, 9 March 2013.

The most notable difference to the team that played the Western Force is that of Luke Watson, who starts on the bench following after-effects of his throat injury.

“Luke is still battling with inflammation in the throat and there are still a few concerns around his fitness levels for Saturday’s game, and as a precaution we decided to keep him out of the starting line-up to ensure that we don’t disrupt the training ahead of Saturday,” said Kings director of rugby Alan Solomons.

Darron Nell will then take over the captaincy, and continue his campaign in the lock position alongside former Sharks player Steven Sykes.

Andries Strauss will handle the vice-captaincy, and promises the same, if not more, intensity than the team did against the Force.

“As a team we have set ourselves goals, and winning one game doesn’t mean we’ve really achieved anything yet… There is a big onus on us to improve on that and if we want to win more games in this competition then we are going to have to improve on that,” said Strauss.

“There is no better way than to take on a side with fifteen Springboks and showing the world once again that we can play this game,” Strauss added.

Southern Kings team to play the Sharks:

15. SP Marais
11. Marcello Sampson
13. Ronnie Cooke
12. Andries Strauss (Vice Captain)
14. Sergeal Petersen
10. Demetri Catrakallis
9. Shaun Venter
1. Schalk Ferreira
2. Bandise Maku
3. Kevin Buys
6. Cornell du Preez
4. Darron Nell (Captain)
5. Steve Sykes
7. Wimpie van der Walt
8. Jacques Engelbrecht
Replacements
16. Edgar Marutlulle
17. Jaco Engels
18. David Bullbring
19. Luke Watson
20. Nicolas Vergallo
21. George Whitehead
22. Hadleigh Parkes