The Griquas coach, Peter Engeldow, has been forced to make changes to his side and the most notable is the exclusion of the centre, Jonathan Francke.

Francke will miss the match after breaking his nose during their 41-35 win over the Pumas and this sees the veteran, JW Jonker, starting at centre, while Ederies Arendse starts on the wing.

Upfront the lock Mzwanele Zito will also miss out after picking up an injury during training and this sees Wandile Putuma starting in the second-row.

Coach Engeldow told OFM Sport that it’s not ideal for them to be playing, seeing that it was meant to be their bye week, but they will have to rest well following today’s match.

“It’s been a tough week and yesterday’s training wasn’t very beneficial,” said Engeldow.

“This was our bye week and the rest would have been great for us, so it’s a bit of a difficult challenge for us but mentally we are ready for this encounter.

“We want to put on a good performance for our supporters, but after the game we must get some good rest.”

Wednesday afternoon’s match at Griqua Park in Kimberley kicks off at 17:00 and the Kings face the Toyota Free State Cheetahs on Saturday afternoon at 15:00 in Bloemfontein.

Griquas - 15 AJ Coertzen (captain), 14 Ederies Arendse, 13 JW Jonker, 12 Clinton Swart, 11 Alshaun Bock, 10 Elgar Watts, 9 Rudi van Rooyen, 8 Jason Fraser, 7 Sias Koen, 6 Wendal Wehr, 5 Jono van Rensburg, 4 Wandile Putuma, 3 Stephan Kotzé, 2 AJ le Roux, 1 Steph Roberts.

Replacements - 16 Marius Fourie, 17 Devon Martinus, 18 Steven Meiring, 19 Thabo Mabuza, 20 Renier Botha, 21 André Swarts, 22 Eric Zana.

EP Kings - 15 Ganfried May, 14 Minenhle Mthethwa, 13 JC Greyling, 12 Siphumelele Msutwana, 11 Alcino Izaacs, 10 Lungelo Goza, 9 Jacques Fick, 8 Dirk Grobbelaar, 7 Brandon Brown, 6 Luke van der Smit, 5 Dylan Pieterse, 4 Hannes Huishamen, 3 Pieter Stemmet, 2 Martin Bezuidenhout (captain), 1  Barend Potgieter.

Replacements - 16 Warrick Venter, 17 Caylib Oosthuizen, 18 Etienne Oosthuizen, 19 Cullen Callopy, 20 Vian van der Walt, 21 Pieter-Steyn de Wet, 22 Siviwe Soyizwapi.

Morgan Piek/OFM News