Maties power up for opener
FNB Maties head coach Chean Roux has chosen a powerful line-up - especially up front - for his team's 2012 Varsity Cup Round One clash against the FNB TUT Vikings on Monday night.
The Men in Maroon, Varsity Cup winners between 2008 and 2010, will be determined to make up for lost ground this year - after relinquishing their Varsity Cup and Super League titles to main rivals UCT in 2011.
For that reason, Roux has named a powerful pack of forwards - including Currie Cup loose forward Tertius Daniller at No.8 and a host of Western Province U21 representatives in the form of new Stellenbosch captain Helmut Lehmann, flanker Sam Mabombo, lock Grant Hattingh and hooker Rob Herring.
The loose trio, in particular, is an impressive unit - with the ball-carrying abilities of Daniller (not to mention his huge work-rate off the ball) and twin fetchers in the shape of Lehmann (last year's WP U21 captain) and ex-Hilton scholar Mabombo.
"Balance-wise, perhaps we're short an extra jumper in that loose trio, but having two fetchers gives a nice vibe as to how we'd like to play this year," explained Maties coach Roux.
The Maties backline will be spearheaded by experienced flyhalf André Kemp - with former UJ ace André Smith backing him up - but scrumhalf Donald Stevens, the 2009 Player that Rocks, has to be content with a place on the bench.
"We've worked on a few things this past week, after the SA Under-20 game (last Friday), but it's more been a case of fine-tuning our game to ensure that we convert possession into points," said Roux.
"It feels like pre-season has been going on forever already," he added, "so we're all pretty excited to get things underway on Monday."
The FNB Maties team: 15 Ryan Nell, 14 Dean Hammond, 13 Wessel Coetzee, 12 Louis Jordaan, 11 Tythan Adams, 10 André Kemp, 9 Boela Abrahams, 8 Tertius Daniller, 7 Helmut Lehmann (captain), 6 Sam Mabombo, 5 Hugo Kloppers, 4 Grant Hattingh, 3 Os Hamman, 2 Rob Herring, 1 Alistair Vermaak.
Replacements: 16 Alfred Ries, 17 Brummer Badenhorst, 18 Reniel Hugo, 19 JP Swanepoel, 20 Donald Stevens, 21 André Smith, 22 Clearance Khumalo, 23 Hein van der Merwe.
Head coach: Chean Roux
Date: Monday, February 6
Venue: Danie Craven Stadium, Stellenbosch
Kick-off: 7pm
Referee: Ben Crouse
Assistant referees: Daniel Fortuin, Hein Gericke
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