Western Force ready for hostile reception against newcomer Southern Kings

[brokendown gunfighter]

enjoy,& bring back a bonus point victory

[doobie69]

Cheers- I'll be wearing my Force top and very noisy.

[Alison]

Sneaky fuggers!!

http://www.arenasport.co.za/2013/02/...g-controversy/

[Alison]

Cheers- I'll be wearing my Force top and very noisy.

Have a great time! Very envious of you! Make sure you make a right nuisance of yourself with your noisiness

[SinBin]

Sneaky fuggers!! http://www.arenasport.co.za/2013/02/...g-controversy/

"...The Force gave chase through the bushes, but the man fled over a road and through a service station..."

Must've been Pek and Sam..

[Alison]

"...The Force gave chase through the bushes, but the man fled over a road and through a service station..."

Must've been Pek and Sam..

Hahaha! Let's hope it wasn't one of the wingers!!

[Ham105]

Kings surprise with all-SA run-on XV

Back-rower Luke Watson will lead an all-South African Kings starting XV in their Super Rugby opener against the Western Force in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.

The side will be captained by back-rower Luke Watson, who along with centre Andries Strauss and hooker Bandise Maku are the only Springboks in the side.

Kenyan forward Daniel Adongo and Kiwi utility back Hadleigh Parkes are both amongst the replacements as the foreigners in the matchday squad.

The franchise's three other foreign players were not considered due to injury. Argentine scrum-half Nicolas Vergallo has been ruled out with a muscle injury in his lower body, while his compatriot, flank Tomas Leonardi, is struggling with a chest injury.

French hooker Virgile Lacombe will be sidelined for a few more weeks with a back injury.

The Kings recently included all five of their imports in a 35-man squad released to Sanzar, ignoring SARU's rule which allows only two foreign players per squad.

Kings:
15 SP Marais,
14 Sergeal Petersen,
13 Ronnie Cooke,
12 Andries Strauss,
11 Marcello Sampson,
10 Demetri Catrakilis,
9 Shaun Venter,

8 Luke Watson (c),
7 Wimpie van der Walt,
6 Cornell du Preez,
5 Steven Sykes,
4 David Bulbring,
3 Kevin Buys,
2 Bandise Maku,
1 Schalk Ferreira.

Replacements:
16 Edgar Marutlulle,
17 Jaco Engels,
18 Daniel Adongo,
19 Jacques Engelbrecht,
20 Johan Herbst,
21 George Whitheead,
22 Hadleigh Parkes.

Date: February 23 Kick-off: 19:10 local (17:10 GMT)
Venue: Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth
Referee: Lourens van der Merwe (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Stuart Berry (South Africa), Christie du Preez (South Africa)
Television match official: Johann Meuwessen (South Africa)

http://za.news.yahoo.com/kings-surpr...145126184.html

[GIGS20]

Are any of these blokes worth any concern? I have seen a little of Sykes from the Sharks, given our lineout troubles last week, he might do OK but I'm not sure that even Watson is a threat out of the remainder!

[Flying 14]

Are any of these blokes worth any concern? I have seen a little of Sykes from the Sharks, given our lineout troubles last week, he might do OK but I'm not sure that even Watson is a threat out of the remainder!

5/8 Catrakilis is very handy. I've seen a bit of him in the Currie Cup. I thought he was French though....
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[Pacman]

22 Hadleigh Parkes is all class off the bench. He's looked really good in NZ rugby in the last yr or so after putting University first and rugby very much second post playing for NZ schools. Shame he doesn't have an Aust. parent.
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[zimeric]

Jongi Nokwe is named on their site as a player i wonder why he isnt playing.. he's pretty handy

[GIGS20]

5/8 Catrakilis is very handy. I've seen a bit of him in the Currie Cup. I thought he was French though....
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I thought the same thing, actually had convinced myself that it was a different Catrakilis. Maybe South African is code for 'Springbok eligible'

[UnionThug]

5/8 Catrakilis is very handy. I've seen a bit of him in the Currie Cup. I thought he was French though....
Posted via Mobile Device

Apparently he was born in Jo'burg and is of Greek and Cypriot origin... did spend a year with Racing Metro but doesn't look like he made any appearances for them.

[kipper_mckinnon]

Are any of these blokes worth any concern? I have seen a little of Sykes from the Sharks, given our lineout troubles last week, he might do OK but I'm not sure that even Watson is a threat out of the remainder!

Must say I always rated Watson when he played for the stormers....might be a little old now tho...actually just looked him up - only 29. Sounds like he did ok at Bath where our own Steve Meehan was

[GIGS20]

Must say I always rated Watson when he played for the stormers....might be a little old now tho...actually just looked him up - only 29. Sounds like he did ok at Bath where our own Steve Meehan was

Yeah, i wasn't saying Watson was a total gimp, he is unfortunate in that our backrow is overflowing with Fire Pissers.

He would be a better player than Sykes in a fair comparison, but our second row hasn't proven to be as solid as the edges and that will mean that Sykes is more of a threat than Watson man-on-man