First-time opportunity for Weber
No.8 Marius Weber will captain FNB Tuks 1 for the first time tomorrow when the students play their opening match in the Carlton League second round. Tuks take on Silver Valke at Silver Valke A.
Weber takes over the captaincy form flanker Marnus Schoeman who will miss the second round due to his Blue Bulls Under-21 duties.
Schoeman is one of three regular Tuks 1 players who are all first choices for the Blue Bulls U21 team. The other two are flanker Willie Nel and scrumhalf Wesley Moolman.
Tuks 1 coach Nollis Marais made it clear at the captain’s run yesterday (Thursday) that he expects a star performance from his team. It is imperative that Tuks start the second round on the same high as the one they finished the knockout round on with the resounding 49-30 win against Centurion.
“I want more than just a win on Saturday as we owe to ourselves to improve on our knock-round performance against Silver Valke when we struggled to beat them 21-13,” added Marais.
“This team around we must not only win, but also score at least four tries as bonus points can be deciding when it comes to the four play-off spots.”
The FNB Tuks team: 15 Boeboes Coetzee, 14 GD Kotzee, 13 Gerhard van der Merwe, 12 Gertjie Smith, 11 JW Bell, 10 Renier Wiessener, 9 SJ Bester, 8 Marius Weber (captain), 7 Jacques Verwey, 6 Louis van Biljon, 5 Peet Bothma, 4 Francois van Wyk, 3 Frik Kirsten, 2 Henri Bantjes, 1 Corné Fourie.
Replacements: 16 Chris Coetzee, 17 Hein Viljoen, 18 Joe Walters, 19 Eugene Lubbe, 20 Hendrik Blignaut, 21 Freddie Douglas, 22 Devan Kruger.
Kick-off: 3pm
By Morris Gilbert
