Craven Week Curtainraiser
The Eastern Province and Border Craven Week sides will meet in a friendly as a curtainraiser on Friday afternoon at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.
The main match will be a friendly between the Southern Kings and a Sharks XV, which will kick off at 19.00. This weekend the Sharks play the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein.
The Eastern Province Rugby Union's CEO, Charl Crouse, confirmed that the teams would be playing against each other as final preparations for Craven Week 2014, which will be taking place at HTS Middelburg from 14 to 19 July 2014.
There are many cross-border matches between the schools in the two provinces but they seldom meet at Craven Week.
Both provinces have strong schools, especially Grey in Eastern Province and Selborne in Border, and should be able to put strong teams into the field.
Of the Border side, the following were at Craven Week last year: Jerry Dunquah, Robert Lyons and Henning Coetzee.
Eastern Province have back Keanu Vers who was a wing in 2013 and is now chosen as a fullback. He could be one of the stars of the 2014 Craven Week. They also have back props Kaden Prince and Erich de Jager, Morney Moos, Jeremy Ward, Curwin Bosch and Johan van Niekerk.
The teams chosen for the 2014 Craven Week
Border: Courtney Winnaar (Dale), Jerry Danquah (Queen's), Luyolo Khuse (Dale), Yamkele Nyalambisa (Dale), Michael Brink (Grens), David Brits (Selborne), Avela Jubase (Queen's), Morgan Steyn (Selborne), Reinhardt Engelbrecht (Grens), Siyamthanda Mgubo (Dale), Jason Steyn (Selborne), Alno Schultz (Grens), Adrian Greig (Selborne), Henning Coetzee (Grens), Robert Lyons (Selborne), Pierre Bester (Grens), Nico Grobler (Grens), Curtley du Preez (Grens), Sango Mtotywa (Dale), Kuhle Mokhoabane (Dale), Siyavuya Mlwayo (Queen's, Tango Balikile (Selborne)
Eastern Province: 15 Keanu Vers (Grey), 14 Athi Mayinje (Grey), 13 Jeremy Ward (Grey), 12 Heino Bezuidenhout (Daniël Pienaar), 11 Darren Lottering (Humansdorp), 10 Curwin Bosch (Grey), 9 Rouché Nel (Framesby), 8 Sipathu Pokamela (Grey), 7 Johan van Niekerk (Grey), 6 SF Nieuwoudt (Framesby), 5 Wihan Coetzer (Framesby), 4 Stephan Janse van Vuuren (Die Brandwag), 3 Erich de Jager (Die Brandwag), 2 Alandré van Rooyen (Nico Malan), 1 Lupumlo Mguca (Daniël Pienaar).
Replacements: 16 Robin Stevens (Grey), 17 Kaden Prince (Die Brandwag), 18 Roché van Zyl (Framesby), 19 Morney Moos (Die Brandwag), 20 Nathan Augustus (P), 21 Tiaan Stander (Framesby), 22 Lunathi Nxele (Muir).
Date: Friday, 4 July 2014
Kick-off: 16.30
Venue: Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.
