Cape Town - Cheetahs prop Charles Marais holds no grudges against the Kings, who did not offer him a Super Rugby contract.
The Kings lured Marais from the Lions in 2014, but he failed to get a contract at the financially stricken franchise for this year’s Super Rugby competition.
Marais has now received a lifeline at the Cheetahs and was included in their starting team for Friday’s friendly clash in Port Elizabeth.
He told Netwerk24 that it will be strange to face his old team.
“It’s a weird, but nice feeling to be here (in Port Elizabeth) with another team - a team for whom you can express yourself and just focus on rugby.”
Marais said the Cheetahs there aren’t any external issues like the non-payment of salaries that can disrupt your focus.
“All I want to do is play rugby. I don’t need any other distractions. I’m also not angry at the Kings, because your path in life goes the way it should.
“It was a good learning school at the Kings, but it’s not an experience I’d like to go through again.”
Friday's clash in Port Elizabeth is scheduled for 19:00.
Teams:
Kings:
15 Jurgen Visser, 14 Luzuko Vulundlu, 13 Stefan Watermeyer, 12 Shane Gates, 11 Malcolm Jaer, 10 Elgar Watts, 9 Ntando Kebe, 8 Jacques Engelbrecht, 7 Thembelani Bholi, 6 Chris Cloete, 5 JC Astle, 4 Steven Sykes (captain), 3 Tom Botha, 2 Martin Bezuidenhout, 1 Schalk Ferreira
Substitutes: 16 Sti Sithole, 17 Martin Ferreira, 18 Vukile Sofisa, 19 Cornell Hess, 20 CJ Velleman, 21 Stephan Willemse, 22 Junior Pokomela, 23 Leighton Eksteen, 24 Theuns Kotze, 25 JP du Plessis, 26 Siyanda Grey
Cheetahs:
15 Sergeal Petersen, 14 Maphutha Dolo, 13 Francois Venter (captain), 12 William Small-Smith, 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Sias Ebersohn, 9 Shaun Venter, 8 Niell Jordaan, 7 Uzair Cassiem, 6 Boom Prinsloo, 5 Lodewyk de Jager, 4 Carl Wegner, 3 Maks van Dyk, 2 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 1 Charles Marais.
Substitutes: 16 Jacques du Toit, 17 Danie Mienie, 18 Luan de Bruin, 19 Reniel Hugo, 20 Hilton Lobberts, 21 Paul Schoeman, 22 Henco Venter, 23 Tian Meyer, 24 Fred Zeilinga, 25 Michael van der Spuy, 26 Clayton Blommetjies