Preview: Cavaliers in catfight
Defending First Division champions the Boland Cavaliers will look to put their home defeat to arch-rivals the EP Kings in last weekend's season-opener behind them in Round Two.
The men from Wellington travel to Nelspruit on Saturday to take on the Pumas.
In the weekend's other matches, Friday sees the EP Kings face fellow Southern Kings franchise partners the SWD Eagles in Port Elizabeth, and the Border Bulldogs host the Falcons in East London. In addition to the Pumas-Boland match, Saturday sees the Griffons at home to the Leopards in Welkom.
The Cavaliers have drawn on their rich club resources and have handed an First Division debut to Johannes Kitshoff, who represented Ceres club in the Boland Premier League earlier this year.
The team will once again be captained by the evergreen Springbok Bolla Conradie, with the competition's top point-scorer in 2011, Elgar Watts, partnering him at flyhalf, and Springbok Sevens representative Cornal Hendricks offering fire-power in midfield.
Meanwhile, the SWD Eagles, following their comprehensive 46-8 victory over the Border Bulldogs, have announced an unchanged side to face the EP Kings at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, with the only movement coming on the bench – where former WP hooker Sydney Tobias, and the son of former Springbok flyhalf Errol, comes in for Wayne Kahn.
Pumas coach, Jimmy Stonehouse, has made a number of changes to his team following their first-round defeat to the Leopards, among them Faf de Klerk replacing Shaun Venter at scrumhalf, and DJ Terblanche coming in at tighthead to replace the injured Ashley Buys.
The Griffons, following their 37-27 victory over the Falcons in Round One, have also rung the changes for their match against the Leopards, lock Francois Uys coming into the team at flank and Tertius Maarman, who played a big part in his team's win in Kempton Park last week, starting at flyhalf in place of Tiaan van Wyk.
The Leopards meanwhile have lost the services of wing Danie Dames and flank Philip de Wet, who are representing Namibia and the SA Student Sevens team this weekend respectively.
Eagles flyhalf Kurt Coleman top the point-scoring log after Round One, with 16 points made up of five conversions and two penalties. Just behind Coleman is Leopards win Danie Dames, whose hat-trick of tries against the Pumas puts him on 15, and Pumas fullback JC Roos on 13 points (two conversions, three penalties).
All the Round Two fixtures:
EP Kings v SWD Eagles
Date: Friday, July 6
Kickoff: 19.00
Venue: Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth
Referee: Rasta Rashivenga
Assistants: Lusanda Jam, Linston Manuels
TMO: Johan Greeff
Last meeting: 26 August 2011 in George: EP won 60-24.
Border Bulldogs v Falcons
Date: Friday, July 6
Kickoff: 19.00
Venue: Buffalo City Municipal Stadium, East London
Referee: Jason Jaftha
Assistants: Christie du Preez, Loyiso Bosman
Last meeting: 30 September 2011 in East London: Falcons won 34-31.
Pumas v Boland Cavaliers
Date: Saturday, July 7
Kickoff: 15.00
Venue: Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit
Referee: Ben Crouse
Assistants: Marius van der Westhuizen, Pieter de Villiers
Last meeting: 25 March 2011 in Witbank: Pumas won 26-17.
Griffons v Leopards
Date: Saturday, July 7
Kickoff: 15.00
Venue: North West Stadium, Welkom
Referee: Lourens van der Merwe
Assistants: Pieter Janse van Vuuren, Francois de Bruin
Last meeting: 26 March 2010 in Potchefstroom: Leopards won 43-13.
