Luke Watson will captain the EP Kings when they take on the Golden Lions in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.

The former Springbok flanker will start at No 6 in the Kings' Currie Cup opener, and will have his work cut out for him contending with the Lions’ dynamic flankers Jaco Kriel and Kwagga Smith.

There aren’t any real surprises to the Kings side named by new head coach Brent Janse van Rensburg, with Tim Whitehead adding experience in the midfield, while fellow former Sharks player Steven Sykes packs down alongside Cornel Hess in the second row.

EP Kings – 15 Scott van Breda, 14 Sylvain Mahuza, 13 JP du Plessis, 12 Tim Whitehead, 11 Luther Obi, 10 George Whitehead, 9 Enrico Acker, 8 Tim Agaba, 7 Stefan Willemse, 6 Luke Watson (c), 5 Cornel Hess, 4 Steven Sykes, 3 Tom Botha, 2 Martin Ferreira, 1 Schalk Ferreira.
Subs: 16 Michael van Vuuren, 17 Simon Kerrod, 18 Jacques Engelbrecht, 19 Paul Schoeman, 20 Kevin Luiters, 21 Karlo Aspeling, 22 Siyanda Grey.

Photo: Michael Sheehan/Gallo Images