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Cape Town - Southern Kings head coach Deon Davids has made minimal changes to his squad that will face up to Leinster in a historic PRO14 clash at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday.
It will be the Kings' first home match in the competition and the first time that a PRO14 match will be played on South African soil and hooker Micheal Willemse will once again have the honour of leading the team onto the field while centre Luzuko Vulindlu will be vice-captain.
Only one change has been made in the Kings backline from the team that did duty against Connacht last weekend – scrumhalf Rudi van Rooyen coming in for Godlen Masimla who drops to the bench.
In the front-row, an injury to Rossouw De Klerk has resulted in Luvuyo Pupuma being rewarded for his try-scoring performance against Connacht by being included in the starting XV while Petrus Strauss and Martin Dreyer have been brought onto the bench.
There is also a change at lock where Stephan Greeff takes over from Jurie Van Vuuren.
Davids cut a satisfied figure as he ran the rule over his charges during a boisterous open practice session on Thursday morning.
"It’s great to be back on home soil and we are looking forward to the game against Leinster on Saturday. We plan on giving everything we have to entertain the fans and we’re hoping they turn out in large numbers to cheer us on," he said.
The match kicks off at 14:15.
Teams:
Kings
15 Masixole Banda, 14 Yaw Penxe, 13 Berton Klaasen, 12 Luzuko Vulindlu, 11 Sibusiso Sithole, 10 Kurt Coleman, 9 Rudi van Rooyen, 8 Andisa Ntsila, 7 Victor Sekekete, 6 Khaya Majola, 5 Dries van Schalkwyk, 4 Stephen Greeff, 3 Luvuyo Pupuma, 2 Michael Willemse (captain), 1 Schalk Ferreira
Substitutes: 16 Stephan Coetzee, 17 Petrus Strauss, 18 Martin Dreyer, 19 Bobby de Wee, 20 Siyabulela Mdaka, 21 Godlen Masimla, 22 Ntabeni Dukisa/Oliver Zono, 23 Jacques Nel
Leinster
TBA
