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Tafel Lager Griquas will host the New Nation Pumas in Kimberley on Saturday afternoon @ 15h00 in their last match of the Preparation Series. Both sides will be highly motivated for this match following successful outings in their previous matches.
The Pumas come off a great win against the Cheetahs (22-15) last weekend. Saturday’s last warm-up fixture presents the Pumas with another opportunity to continue their recent dominance over their Kimberley rivals, following their wins in Vodacom Super Rugby Unlocked (27-21) and Carling Currie Cup (22-17).
The Griquas come off a win 43-0 win against a useless Eastern Province team and scored six from seven tries from mauls after 5m line-outs.
The Pumas should have enough firepower to win this one. However, Griquas will push them until the last seconds of the game. An "injured" Tinus de Beer will be vital for the Griquas' hope of a win.
Tafel Lager Griquas received good news when Tinus de Beer (flyhalf) was declared fit. The availability of De Beer means there are only minimal changes to the Kimberley side for their home encounter with the visitors from Mpumalanga.
De Beer starts again alongside fellow Junior Springbok Stefan Ungerer, who will again lead the side from scrumhalf.
In one of just two changes upfront, Andries Schutte is handed a debut start at tighthead prop in place of Tijde Visser, who moves to the bench, while the other change in the pack is at No 4 lock, which sees Adre Smith win promotion from the bench as he rotates places with Ewan Coetzee.
James Verity-Amm is restored to the starting team at left-wing, while Enver Brandt moves down to the replacement bench.
The New Nation Pumas have announced a match squad for their trip to Kimberley although it is expected that Jimmy Stonehouse will not make big changes to last week’s starting team which defeated the Toyota Cheetahs in Nelspruit.
Darrien Landsberg (lock) was not considered because of injury and Stonehouse will wait until the captain’s run to finalise his starting combination.
Tafel Lager Griquas finally got a win under the belt as they proved too strong for the struggling Eastern Province in their encounter in Port Elizabeth, while the Lowvelders bagged a convincing win over the Toyota Cheetahs in the Mbombela Stadium.
Based on their recent performances, the New Nation Pumas can be considered as the slight favourites, however, the men from the Northern Cape are tough nuts to crack in Kimberley and this match is bound to be another close-fought battle between the two rivals.
Cwengile Jadezweni takes the whistle in this 15h00 kick-off and the match will be televised live on the SuperSport Rugby channel.
Tafel Lager Griquas: 15 Masixole Banda, 14 Daniel Kasende, 13 Michal Haznar, 12 Andre Swarts, 11 James Verity-Amm, 10 Tinus de Beer, 9 Stefan Ungerer (captain), 8 Carl Els, 7 Stefan Willemse, 6 Gideon van der Merwe, 5 Cameron Lindsay, 4 Adre Smith, 3 Andries Schutte, 2 Alandre van Rooyen, 1 Mox Mxoli. Replacements (from): 16 HJ Luus, 17 Andrew Beerwinkel, 18 Tijde Visser, 19 Ewan Coetzee, 20 Sibabalo Qoma, 21 Ashlon Davids, 22 Johnathan Francke, 23 Enver Brandt, 24 Bandisa Ndlovu, 25 Tiaan van der Merwe, 26 Raegan Oranje.
New Nation Pumas squad: Morgan Naude, Jaco Willemse, Simon Westraadt, Pieter Janse van Vuren (captain), Marné Coetzee, Willie Engelbrecht, Daniel Maartens, Francois Kleinhans, Khwezi Mafu, Kwanda Dimaza, Brandon Valentyn, Ig Prinsloo, Dewald Maritz, HP van Schoor, Phumzile Maqondwana, Devon Williams, Ali Mgijima, Tapiwa Mafura, Erich Cronje, Eddie Fouche, Etienne Taljaard, Ginter Smuts, Wayne van der Bank, Chriswell September, Sebastian de Klerk.