U19 locals in curtain raiser

The Absa Provincial Championship U19 and U21 finals - as well as the Currie Cup final - take place at Emirates Airline Park, home of the Golden Lions, on Saturday.

While Eastern Province do not feature in either the U21 or Currie Cup final, the U19 side will face Vodacom Blue Bulls in the final of their competition. A number of Grahamstonians will feature in this game.

South African Rugby Union (SARU) has confirmed that top Grahamstown rugby referee, Sindile Ngcese, will be in charge of the match. Sindile has made his mark with SARU over the last few years, working his way up the ranks. This year he was part of the officiating team at the Coca-Cola Craven Week, as well as officiating at a number of Absa Currie Cup games.

Three former Grahamstown schools players have been part of the U19 squad this year - Xandre Vos (Old Graemian), Garrick Matheus and Davron Cameron (Old Kingswoodians).

Vos and Matheus will both be on the bench for this weekend’s game. However, Cameron, who was part of last week’s semifinal against the Free State, will not play.

The EP Kings have named an unchanged starting line-up for the match. The only change to the squad comes on the bench, where scrumhalf Sibusiso Ngcokovane returns among the replacements in place of Davron Cameron. Ngcokovane was a late withdrawal from last week’s squad for the semifinal where the Kings registered their third win of the season over the Free Staters at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Friday (October 16), winning 31-15 to qualify for Saturday’s final.

The match will kick off at 9.30am and will be televised live on SuperSport 2, as will the U21 final between Western Province and the Cheetahs, starting at 11.15am.

The matches will be the curtain-raisers for the senior Currie Cup final between the Lions and Western Province (1.45pm on SuperSport 1).