Kings bring in 'new faces' for Leinster
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENTS: Ulrich Beyers will earn his first starting berth for the Southern Kings when the side takes on PRO14 defending champions, Leinster Rugby, in a Round 16 clash at the RDS Arena in Dublin on Friday.
The 28-year-old fullback, who has come off the bench four times for the Port Elizabeth side, will earn his first start as he replaces Masixole Banda in a rotational change to the Southern Kings line-up.
Banda, who has started in all 15 Southern Kings games played so far this season, will be on the bench.
Veteran scrumhalf Sarel Pretorius will also be getting his first Southern Kings start in the No9 jersey as he rotates with Stefan Ungerer, who will provide cover from the bench this week.
“From a player-management perspective, we are rotating Masixole Banda and Ulrich Beyers. Banda has started all the matches so far, and now we are excited to see Ulrich in action and how his experience and height can be used as a factor in our back three,” Southern Kings Head Coach, Deon Davids, explained the changes.
“Sarel Pretorius has been good from the bench and patiently waited for his opportunity. We have decided to reward him this week, with Stefan Ungerer going to the bench.”
🏉 TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT 🏉
The Isuzu Southern Kings have announced their team to take on Leinster Rugby at the RDS Arena tomorrow.
Michael Willemse will captain the side, while Alulutho Tshakweni, Ulrich Beyers and Sarel Pretorius get starting berths. #LENvKIN
📺 @SuperSportTV 1 pic.twitter.com/xtbVKZx9NA— Isuzu Southern Kings (@SouthernKingsSA) February 21, 2019
The Southern Kings will this week start without captain, JC Astle, who will also be on the bench.
His spot in the second row will be taken by Stephan Greeff while hooker, Michael Willemse, will assume the captaincy role for the Leinster clash.
Another change in the forwards clash will see flank Henry “Bakkies” Brown returning to the starting XV, exchanging spots with Stephan de Wit, who falls out of the match-23 squad.
Former Junior Springbok prop Alulutho Tshakweni will get another spot in the starting XV as he rotates with veteran Schalk Ferreira, who will provide cover from the bench.
While, for Leinster, Rónan Kelleher will become the side’s 54th player to pull on a senior jersey this season when he makes his debut at hooker.
The Lansdowne player only turned 21 last month and is in his second year in the Leinster Academy. He is also the younger brother of Connacht back Cian Kelleher.
WATCH: Here is your 23-man #LeinsterRugby squad to face @SouthernKingsSA tomorrow evening at the RDS Arena.#JoinTheRoar: https://t.co/3KrC8WUwaw#LEIvISK #GuinnessPRO14 pic.twitter.com/hrRD6Yo459
— Leinster Rugby (@leinsterrugby) February 21, 2019
Teams:
Leinster: 15 Barry Daly, 14 Fergus McFadden, 13 Conor O’Brien, 12 Noel Reid, 11 James Lowe, 10 Ross Byrne, 9 Hugh O’Sullivan, 8 Caelan Doris, 7 Max Deegan, 6 Josh Murphy, 5 Mick Kearney, 4 Ross Molony (captain), 3 Andrew Porter, 2 Rónan Kelleher, 1 Ed Byrne.
Replacements: 16 James Tracy, 17 Peter Dooley, 18 Michael Bent, 19 Jack Dunne, 20 Scott Fardy, 21 Paddy Patterson, 22 Jimmy O’Brien, 23 Rory O’Loughlin
Kings: 15 Ulrich Beyer, 14 Yaw Penxe, 13 Meli Rokoua, 12 Berton Klaasen, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Bader Pretorius, 9 Sarel Pretorius, 8 Ruaan Lerm, 7 Tienie Burger, 6 Henry Brown, 5 Andries van Schalkwyk, 4 Stephan Greeff, 3 De-Jay Terblanche, 2 Michael Willemse (captain), 1 Alulutho Tshakweni
Replacements: 16 Alandre Van Rooyen, 17 Schalk Ferreira, 18 Pieter Scholtz, 19 JC Astle, 20 Andisa Ntsila, 21 Stefan Ungerer, 22 Tertius Kruger, 23 Masixole Banda
Date: Friday, February 22
Venue: RDS Arena, Dublin
Kick-off: 19.55 (19.55 GMT)
Referee: Sam Grove-White (Scotland)
Assistant referees: George Clancy (Ireland), Ian Kenny (Scotland)
TMO: Colin Stanley (Ireland)
