Kings lose last week’s hero

Malcolm Jaer © Gallo Images

Thu, 13 Apr 2017 | 07:19

The Southern Kings have suffered a major blow ahead of their second Vodacom Super Rugby tour match against the Reds with the loss of last week’s try-scoring hattrick hero Malcolm Jaer due to injury.

 

The elusive fullback sustained a knee injury in training and has been replaced at fullback by Masixole Banda. Jaer will fly back to South Africa to have his knee assessed by specialists before the extent of the injury can be confirmed, but the Kings will be sorry to be without Jaer for the remainder of their tour Down Under. Jaer scored three tries in last week’s 46-41 defeat at the hands of the Western Force in Perth.

The change at fullback is one of four that coach Deon Davids has made for the Brisbane match. The other three all come at forward, and are rotational changes to a pack that acquitted itself well last week. Former Western Force player Chris Heiberg comes in at loosehead prop for Schalk van der Merwe, while Mzwanele Zito comes into the second row as a replacement for Irne Herbst. Both Herbst and Van der Merwe move to the bench.

The remaining change comes at loose-forward, with Tyler Paul, normally a lock, finding place this time at No7 flank in place of Andisa Ntsila.

Understandably, Davids was disappointed to lose Jaer after his excellent showing in Perth.

“Unfortunately in losing Jaer we have lost a star player,” said Davids.

“However, we are lucky to have Masixole Banda in the squad. He has been exposed to this level of rugby in the first weeks of the competition. He is looking forward to getting another opportunity at No15.”

Referring to the changes to the pack, Davids said that the stage of the competition had been reached where it was important to manage the work load of the players.

“It has been a tough week for us in terms of managing the bumps and bruises from last week so some rotation was necessary,” said the coach.

Southern Kings: 15.Masixole Banda, 14.Yaw Penxe, 13.Berton Klaasen, 12.Luzuko Vulindlu, 11.Makazole Mapimpi, 10.Lionel Cronje, 9.Louis Schreuder, 8.Ruaan Lerm, 7.Tyler Paul, 6.Chris Cloete, 5.Wilhelm van der Sluys, 4.Mzwanele Zito, 3.Justin Forwood, 2.Michael Willemse, 1.Chris Heiberg.

Replacements: 16.Martin Bezuidenhout, 17.Schalk van der Merwe, 18.Dayan van der Westhuizen, 19.Irne Herbst, 20.Andisa Ntsila, 21.Johan Steyn, 22.Wandile Mjekevu, 23. Pieter-Steyn de Wet.