Ikeys big guns return for Bay derby
FNB UCT have been boosted by the return of a host of provincial stars ahead of Saturday’s WP Super League meeting at False Bay.
Having gone down 13-26 to SK Walmers last Saturday, the Ikeys’ spirits were lifted this week when the likes of Martin Muller (lock) and centres Tim Whitehead and Marcel Brache were given the green light to face the Bay.
Muller and Whitehead have been released from Currie Cup duty, whilst Brache – who played a pre-season friendly for Western Province last month – is back from injury.
Both Muller and Brache (pictured, right) will start for UCT, but Whitehead will come off the bench – not the worst replacement for the students to have!
Varsity Cup flyhalf Doug Mallett is also back in the mix – from a shoulder injury – but the Ikeys were dealt a blow this week when star man Tiger Bax, who has been playing at flyhalf in recent weeks, picked up a serious-looking bicep injury at training.
Loose forward Nick Fenton-Wells will once again take the Ikeys’ reins, but the pack is without tighthead prop Dylan Rogers and in-form No.8 Jody Burch – both of whom are on WP Amateurs duty this weekend.
Sam Peter is back at No.8 – a more than able replacement for Burch – whilst another Varsity Cup regular, prop Grant Kemp, will wear the No.3 shirt in the absence of Rogers. Kemp and his front-row cohorts will be up against a wily Bay front row, a unit which includes former Ikeys – and Varsity Cup – star Herbie Mayosi; the 2008 Varsity Cup Forward of the Tournament.
False Bay, who claimed the scalp of the Maties earlier this season, have been one of the form sides in the 2010 WP Super League.
However, the Bay did go down 15-16 to UCT in a Round One fixture at the Green Mile back in April and will be determined as ever to add UCT’s scalp to that of the Maties’, whom they beat at home in Round One.
The FNB UCT team: 15 Ricky Rijs, 14 Paul Cohen, 13 Marcel Brache, 12 Adrian Kritzinger, 11 Marcello Sampson, 10 Doug Mallett, 9 Scott Watermeyer, 8 Sam Peter, 7 Nick Fenton-Wells (captain), 6 Don Armand, 5 Martin Muller, 4 Mike Ledwidge, 3 Grant Kemp, 2 Matt Page, 1 Ashley Wells.
Replacements: 16 Mark Goosen, 17 Chris Heiberg, 18 Levi Odendaal, 19 Zandy Macdonald, 20 Sharief Hendricks, 21 Tim Whitehead, 22 Pete Haw.
By James Kingston
