Steven Sykes will captain the Kings in their pre-season match against the SWD Eagles in George on Friday.

Coach Deon Davids said he had selected Sykes to lead the side due to his experience and leadership shown throughout their pre-season preparations.

‘We gave Edgar [Marutlulle] and Schalk [Ferreira] leadership opportunities during the session against the NMMU Madibaz last week, and want to see how Sykes will manage the role,’ said Davids. ‘It is important that you have a few leaders available to you in the group.’

Davids added that his aim was to ensure that each player received enough game time ahead of their Super Rugby opener against the Sharks in Port Elizabeth on 27 February.

‘This week we will be focusing more on specific combinations of players, as well as improving on areas identified during last week’s hitout against the Madibaz,’ he said. ‘This will be an important game for us, especially from a match fitness perspective, as it will be our first full-length match.’

Kings – 15 Jurgen Visser, 14 Luzuko Vulundlu, 13 JP du Plessis, 12 Stefan Watermeyer, 11 Michael Makashe, 10 Elgar Watts, 9 Ntando Kebe, 8 Jacques Engelbrecht, 7 Thembelani Bholi, 6 Chris Cloete, 5 Steven Sykes (c), 4 Schalk Oelofse, 3 Jacobie Adriaanse, 2 Edgar Marutlulle, 1 Schalk Ferreira.
Subs: 16 Vukile Sofisa, 17 Martin Bezuidenhout, 18 Tom Botha, 19 Tazz Fuzanie, 20 JC Astle, 21 Cornell Hess, 22 CJ Velleman, 23 Stephan Willemse, 24 Junior Pokemela, 25 Leighton Eksteen, 26 James Hall, 27 Theuns Kotze, 28 Shane Gates, 29 Siyanda Grey, 30 JP Jonck.

Photo: Michael Sheehan/Gallo Images