Experienced centre Tim Whitehead will continue to lead the EP Kings in the absence of injured Luke Watson.

Announcing their team to face the Cheetahs in PE on Friday, the Kings confirmed that Watson was still suffering from a leg injury. Vice-captain Steven Sykes, though, has overcome a rib problem and returns to the second row.

Coach Brent Janse van Rensburg said they were carefully managing Watson’s injury.

‘We don’t want to rush anything, especially in view of the bigger picture, even though Luke is desperately keen to play. We need to look after his quad problem and make sure that there are no problems when he does return, and it was my decision to leave him out at this stage.’

EP Kings – 15 Scott van Breda, 14 Siyanda Grey, 13 JP du Plessis, 12 Tim Whitehead (c), 11 Luther Obi, 10 Karlo Aspeling, 9 Enrico Acker, 8 Tim Agaba, 7 Thembelani Bholi, 6 Paul Schoeman, 5 Steven Sykes, 4 Stefan Willemse, 3 Tom Botha, 2 Martin Ferreira, 1 Lizo Gqoboka.
Subs: 16 Edgar Marutlulle, 17 Schalk Ferreira, 18 Simon Kerrod, 19 Cornell Hess, 20 Jacques Engelbrecht, 21 Dwayne Kelly, 22 Elgar Watts.

Photo: Luke Walker/Gallo Images