Flying Fijian itching to hit the ground running against powerful Welsh outfit
Fijian flyer Meli Rokoua will be unleashed by the Isuzu Southern Kings against top Welsh side the Scarlets in a Guinness Pro14 clash at the Madibaz Stadium on Friday.
The hard-running new signing has impressed at training and could provide the extra spark needed by the Kings to unlock the Scarlets defence.
After arriving in South Africa two weeks ago, the powerful centre will welcome this early chance to impress his new team.
“We will definitely see Meli getting some game time against Scarlets,” Kings head coach Deon Davids said.
“We will chuck him and see what he can do. Meli has shown us some glimpses of things he can do so we are excited to see what can happen on the park.”
New captain JC Astle said he was looking forward to leading the Kings.
“I like to think of myself as s bit of a leader. I have captained Boland and my school team. It has been a while since I captained a team, but I like to lead from the front,” said Astle.
“Being captain puts a bit of pressure on you and the guys are looking to you for inspiration or to say the right thing when it gets tough. I am excited about challenge and want to show something extra.”
Astle takes over the captaincy from Michael Willemse who has been sidelined by a shoulder injury.
The rest of the Kings injury list sees lock Bobby de Wee out of action for six months following a shoulder injury sustained in the previous match against Benetton in Italy a fortnight ago.
Loose-forward Bakkies Brown has been ruled out for between seven to eight weeks with an ankle injury.
He is being managed conservatively by the medical team and is consulting an ankle specialist on a weekly basis.
Prop Xandre Vos, who sustained a neck injury has also been ruled out for two months.
Prop Schalk Ferreira (nose), loose-forward CJ Velleman (shoulder) and scrumhalf Rudi van Rooyen (ankle) have made good recoveries from their various injuries and are training with the team this week.
Sarel Pretorius (foot), Pieter Scholtz (shoulder), Oliver Zono (knee) and Sibusiso Sithole (shoulder) are making good progress in their rehabilitation. Martin Dreyer (knee) remains on the long-term injury list as he is out for nine months.
After defeats to Racing 92 and Leicester Tigers in the Champions Cup, Scarlets will now focus on maintaining their second place position in Conference B of the Pro14.
The squad travel to South Africa without 12 international players who have been called up to the Wales squad as well as the injured players James Davies, Aaron Shingler and Tom Prydie.
Centre Kieron Fonotia is also unavailable because of suspension.