Griquas seek maximum points
FTER an excellent start to their Vodacom Cup campaign, GWK Griquas coach Peter Engeldow has made hardly any changes to the team that surprised friend and foe alike to claim a famous victory over the Blue Bulls in Pretoria last weekend.
This was the most difficult start imaginable for Griquas, in a year where fighting to return to the top tier of South African inter-provincial rugby will be the order of the day. Despite horrible weather in Pretoria and still trailing on the scoreboard with time rapidly ticking away, Engeldow’s team dug deep and came away with the points, albeit from the narrowest of victories.
It did come at a price though, with loose-forward Carel Greeff being ruled out with an injury he sustained in the warm-up session last weekend, while a severe concussion has rendered winger Nico Scheepers a bench warmer for the next month, which will see him miss a number of crucial matches.
This is where the changes to the starting XV for this weekend’s outing against the Griffons at GWK Park come in, and despite the fact that Griquas are coming up against a side that were clearly out of their depth in a preseason match, Engeldow is handling this outing with the same ardor that he did the match against the Bulls.
He said on Monday that he was going to look to use this outing against the Griffons as well as next weekend’s home game against the Limpopo Blue Bulls to build momentum and rhythm ahead of Griquas’ showdown with the Pumas .
Winning with four tries and by a massive margin on Saturday is sure to be the objective, and Engeldow will send out a near full-strength team, with Danie Dames coming on for Scheepers on the wing, while Burger Schoeman swaps places with Leon Karemaker at eighthman. The only other change, sees Rocco Jansen make his first start of the season in the No 11 jersey, which sees Ederies Arendse take up a seat next to Karemaker on the bench.
Steph Roberts will take up his regular position in the No 1 jersey, with tighthead Ewald van der Westhuizen joining him in the front row and likely to want to make amends after a sin-binning at Loftus.
With injuries causing some
Aheadaches in the Super Rugby competition, hooker Martin Bezuidenhout has found himself in demand, but Griquas are still managing to hold on to him for the Vodacom Cup competition at this stage.
Locks Hilton Lobberts and Jaco Nepgen both have no shortage of experience and were excellent last Saturday, while Jonathan Adendorff and hot commodity Marnus Schoeman, who is getting plenty of Super Rugby interest, will be on the flanks.
Scrum-half Tian Meyer had a good debut for Griquas against the Bulls, and will again complete the half-back pairing with Francois Brummer, who will be looking for a better performance with the boot than he had in Pretoria, especially with the first-choice kicker, Scheepers, out of commission.
Wayne Stevens is at centre for his second outing as captain and will team up with Jonathan Francke.
The back three combination of Jansen, Dames and Jacquin Jansen at full-back is likely to be the players to watch. Jansen has already proved his attacking skill with ball in hand, while Dames has been identified as one of the stars of the future by his coaching staff, while Jansen has already proved his worth in the warmups and when he stepped up to the plate and won the game for Griquas in Pretoria by slotting a penalty in difficult conditions in the final minute of the match. GRIQUAS (15-1): Jacquin Jansen, Danie Dames, Jonathan Francke, Wayne Stevens (c), Rocco Jansen, Francois Brummer, Tian Meyer, Burger Schoeman, Jonathan Adendorff, Marnus Schoeman, Jaco Nepgen, Hilton Lobberts, Ewald van der Westhuizen, Martin Bezuidenhout, Steph Roberts. Bench: Simon Westraadt, Stephanus Pretorius, Willem Serfontein, Leon Karemaker, Dustin Jinka, Ederies Arendse, Hilford Clarke.