No captain Visagie for underfire UJ
FNB UJ will go into their crucial Varsity Cup match against FNB Tukkies this coming Monday without the services of hooker and regular captain Neil Visagie.
Visagie has a rib injury and his place in the No.2 shirt will be taken by Edgar Marutlulle, with Martin Bezuidenhout coming onto the bench.
Lock Andries Nel will take over the captaincy from Visagie.
Regular openside flanker Frikkie Maartens has also succumbed to injury – he has hamstring and shoulder troubles – and coach Hugo van As has opted for Johan van Deventer to fill the No.6 shirt in his absence.
UJ have won just two matches this season (losing three in the process) and a fourth loss would officially rule them out of semifinal contention in the 2009 FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International.
They are in sixth place on the Varsity Cup log with nine points, but a victory over the third-placed Tuks (15 points) – who themselves are under pressure to make the play-offs after a two-game losing streak – will keep their faint semifinal hopes alive.
Looking ahead to Monday’s match, Van As told varsitycup.co.za: “We will be under a lot of pressure to win against Tuks (on our home ground) – but I believe we can beat them, we just have to stay focused.”
Monday’s match will be televised live on SuperSport 1 and CSN at 6.45pm.
FNB UJ: 15 Earl Lewis, 14 Edrich van Tonder, 13 Clinton de Klerk, 12 JJ Pienaar, 11 Oscar Mfundisi, 10 André Smit, 9 Jaco Snyman, 8 Torrie Meyer, 7 Hennie Killian, 6 Johan van Deventer, 5 Andries Nel (captain), 4 Rob Andrew, 3 Clint van Niekerk, 2 Edgar Marutlulle, 1 Wayne Swart.
Replacements: 16 Martin Bezuidenhout, 17 Ryno Bosman, 18 Martyn Lombard, 19 Julian Erasmus, 20 Bakkies van Zyl, 21 Arno Coetzee, 22 Itumeleng Mogotsi.
Coach: Hugo van As
Assistant coaches: E van As, M Masina
Kick-off: Monday, March 9, 6.45pm, UJ Stadium
