Kings pin hope on Ferreira and Luiters
Coach Deon Davids replaced Edgar Marutlulle at hooker with Martin Ferreira, while Kevin Luiters comes up from the bench to start in place of Ntando Kebe at scrumhalf.
"Edgar put in a sterling performance against the Chiefs last week and the move is in no way an indictment on his performance," the coach said.
Davids said Luiters had been given the chance to start, having played off the bench last week after returning from injury.
"Ntando has started for us in two games now, so its more of a rotational move – with Kevin also bringing a bit of experience to the field," he said.
Aside from Marutlulle and Kebe, JP du Plessis also comes onto the bench in place of Jaco van Tonder, who did not join the team on tour.
Captain Steven Sykes said the players were settling in well after their long journey to New Zealand and had had a productive training session on Thursday.
"This was our first training session since we arrived and was very productive, with a lot of positives that we can hopefully take into the match with us," he said.
Kings: 15 Jurgen Visser, 14 Luzuko Vulindlu, 13 Stefan Watermeyer, 12 Shane Gates, 11 Malcolm Jaer, 10 Louis Fouche, 9 Kevin Luiters, 8 Jacques Engelbrecht, 7 Thembelani Bholi, 6 Chris Cloete, 5 John-Charles Astle, 4 Steven Sykes (captain), 3 Jacobie Adriaanse, 2 Martin Ferreira, 1 Schalk Ferreira.
Replacements: 16 Edgar Marutlulle, 17 Sithembiso Sithole, 18 Tom Botha, 19 Schalk Oelofse, 20 Cyril-John Velleman, 21 Ntando Kebe, 22 Elgar Watts, 23 JP du Plessis.
Date: Saturday, March 19
Venue: AMI Stadium, Christchurch
Kick-off: 19.35 (08.35 SAST; 06.35 GMT)
Referee: William Houston (Australia)
Assistant referees: Brendon Pickerill (New Zealand), Angus Mabey (New Zealand)
TMO: Chris Wratt (New Zealand)
