The Isuzu Southern Kings kick off their sophomore season in the GuinnessPro14 Championship with a match against Italian side Zebre at the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi in Parma tomorrow (Friday) evening.
The South Africans will be eager to get their campaign off to a good start and banish the memories of a difficult debut 2017/2018 season. Head-Coach Deon Davids this week applauded the "focus and intensity" of his charges in the build-up to this fixture.
"We've had some really good sessions despite the very warm and humid conditions being experienced in this part of the world at the moment. We are preparing for a very physical and high-tempo challenge from Zebre. They have lots of experience and play in front of a very passionate crowd but if we focus on ourselves then I believe we have what it takes to win," he said.
Davids also congratulated all the players who would be making their debuts for the Isuzu Southern Kings in this match and said he hoped they would "embrace" the occasion.
"Every single one of them has earned their place in the team and they help us in broadening our base of experience within the squad," he added.
Those debutants in tomorrow night's squad total 6. Amongst the run-on XV fullback Michael Botha, lock Schalk Oelofse and flank Henry Brown will start their first game in the Isuzu Southern Kings' colours whilst JC Astle, Ulrich Beyers and Lupumlo Mguca are new faces amongst the replacements.
The team, which will be captained by hooker Michael Willemse, shows the interesting selection of Masixole Banda at flyhalf. The mercurial playmaker regularly caught the eye whilst playing at fullback or on the wing last season and will partner Rudi van Rooyen at halfback.
Friday night's match in Parma kicks off at 20h35 SA time and will be live on SuperSport 1.
