BLOEMFONTEIN – Coach Rory Duncan on Friday named his team to take on the Kings in the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.
Duncan chose Clayton Blommetjies on fullback with Craig Barry starting on the right wing.
Nico Lee will be wearing the number 13 jersey, replacing injured captain, Francois Venter. Venter sustained a neck injury in the match against Benetton Rugby last week.
“Dealing with pressure, we’ve been taking this season week by week and not looking ahead, but this is the week we’ve been waiting for - the first South African derby.
It is going to be a really tough and physical game. We expect the Kings to come out guns blazing, but so will we,” said Torsten van Jaarsveld who will be leading the team on the field.
The Cheetahs team to face the Kings:
15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Craig Barry, 13 Nico Lee, 12 Niel Marais, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Fred Zeilinga, 9 Shaun Venter, 8 Uzair Cassiem, 7 Oupa Mohoje, 6 Paul Schoeman, 5 Reniel Hugo, 4 Justin Basson, 3 Tom Botha, 2 Torsten van Jaarsveld (captain), 1 Ox Nche
Substitutes
: 16 Jacques du Toit, 17 Charles Marais, 18 Johan Coetzee, 19 Rynier Bernardo, 20 Junior Pokomela, 21 Henco Venter, 22 Zee Mkhabela, 23 AJ Coertzen