Gardens aim to hold onto trophy

DEFENDING champions Gardens will look to get back to winning ways when the second round of the Eastern Cape Super 12 is played tomorrow.

The first week of the competition kicked off with tight scores in all six matches.

None of the teams managed to clinch bonus points.

Gardens will look to up their game from last week’s defeat when they take on Breakers at the Rosedale Stadium in Uitenhage.

With both teams having gone down in their encounters at the weekend, the coaches have made a few changes to this week’s squads.

Breakers will bring in Mpulelo Luyaba at fullback to replace Nkosomzi Mbuzi, who was red-carded for a dangerous tackle.

Breakers will look to build from the momentum they had in the second half of their game with Cambridge.

Breakers official Amos Nomnabo said: “We have decided to remain with the squad and stick to the initial game plan. We have been forced to make the one change for the red card.”

Gardens coach Dhameer Maarman said: “We won’t be taking any of our competitors for granted in this competition.

“Last week’s defeat has shown us that we are not bigger than any side even though we are current champions.”

Swallows and Spring Rose will watch from the sidelines as they have byes this week.

Five of tomorrow’s matches will kick off at 3.30pm at various venues, while the Cambridge versus Parks game, in East London, is scheduled to start at 4pm.

The fixtures for tomorrow are: Gardens v Breakers (Rosedale), Cambridge v Park (Hams-Tech, EL), Despatch v PE Harlequins (Despatch), WSU v EL Police (Potsdam, Berlin), Buffaloes v Progress (Buffalo Park)