Injured Griquas limp into Loftus
Griquas have lost the services of two key players ahead of their Currie Cup trip to Loftus Versfeld on Friday.
Coach Pote Human confirmed that stalwarts Rynhardt Landman and Marnus Schoeman both suffered serious injuries in the 32-30 win over the Sharks in Durban last week and will not travel to Pretoria.
Lock Landman has undergone surgery and will be sidelined for at least six week after he fractured a bone in his thumb. Loose forward Schoeman will be sidelined for two weeks only, after he injured his hamstring in Durban.
Despite the setbacks, which has resulted a in a major reshuffle of his forward pack, Human remained positive ahead of their Round Two encounter with the Bulls.
"It will be a tough game, but we are all positive after the game against the Sharks," Human told this website.
The backline remains unchanged from that which produced such an outstanding performance in Durban.
However, the second and back rows had to be changed as a result of the injury setbacks.
Jonathan Adendorf comes off the bench to start on the flank in place of Jaco Nepgen, who moves into the lock position vacated by Landman. Carel Greeff, who made his Griquas debut last week, moves from the bench to start on the other flank in place of Schoeman.
RJ Liebenberg comes onto the bench and will make his Griquas debut, while Leon Karemaker takes the other vacant spot among the replacements.
Griquas: 15 Gouws Prinsloo, 14 Nico Scheepers, 13 JP Nel, 12 Howard Mnisi, 11 PJ Vermeulen, 10 Francois Brummer, 9 Jacques Coetzee, 8 Burger Schoeman, 7 Jonathan Adendorf, 6 Carel Greeff, 5 Jaco Nepgen, 4 Hilton Lobberts, 3 Lourens Adriaanse, 2 Ryno Barnes (captain), 1 Steph Roberts.
Replacements: 16 Matthew Dobson, 17 Nick Schonert, 18 RJ Liebenberg, 19 Leon Karemaker, 20 Marnus Hugo, 21 Du Randt Gerber, 22 Rocco Jansen.
Date: Friday, August 16
Venue: Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Kick-off: 19.10 (17.10 GMT)
Referee: Marius van der Westhuizen
Assistant referees: Sindile Mayende, Attire Buitendag
TMO: Johan Greeff
