The Toyota Free State XV will be looking to close the gap on the Griquas on Friday when they host the Leopards in the SuperSport Rugby Challenge.
The Peacock Blues lead the Central log on 22 points, five ahead of both the Free State and the Leopards.
Free State welcome back Junior Pokomela who was doing Super Rugby duty, while the lock, Reniel Hugo, will be playing alongside Justin Basson in the second-row.
Hugo made his long awaited return from injury last weekend in Rustenburg, but as a last minute replacement for Basson.
The Leopards in their turn will be looking to return to winning ways following heavy defeats at the hands of the Griquas and the Sharks in their last two outings.
The Free State coach, MJ Smith, told Courant that for them it’s important to build on their momentum.
“It’s about give the other teams a sniff of the tryline.
“It’s very important for us to keep the momentum going. You’ve got to get back-to-back wins in this competition and we’ve got another six games to win to win the competition.
“Two games ago we sad that we have eight games to win in a row and we’ve won our last our last two games.
“So hopefully we’re back on track and hopefully we can keep the momentum going”.
The captain JW Jonker, in his turn that they want to set the record straight against the Leopards.
“We’re definitely excited about the game on Friday, especially seeing that we lost our previous match against them.
“We trailed for the most of that match and we came back, but we just couldn’t get there in the end.
“We’re also excited to have some of the Super Rugby players, such as Junior Pokomela and Ruan van Rensburg back, as Reniel Hugo as well.
“Reniel did play for us last weekend in the Griffons and played well in my opinion.
“We want to put pressure on the log-leaders and in the same token we want to become the log-leaders.”
Friday afternoon’s match at the Toyota Stadium kicks off at 15:00.
In their only other match in the group, the Sharks host the Griffons at 15:00 on Saturday afternoon at the Suger Ray Xulu Stadium, while the Griquas enjoy a bye.
Toyota FS XV – 15 Marco Mason, 14 JW Jonker (captain), 13 Stephan Janse van Rensburg, 12 Ali Mgijima, 11 Luther Obi, 10 Heinrich Bitzi, 9 JP Smith, 8 Junior Pokomela, 7 Ntokozo Vidima, 6 Gerhard Olivier, 5 Reniel Hugo, 4 Justin Basson, 3 Erich de Jager, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Boan Venter.
Replacements – 16 Marnus van der Merwe, 17 Stephan Kotze, 18 Sibabalo Quma, 19 Bertie de Bod, 20 Ruan van Rensburg, 21 Vuyani Maqina, 22 Lihleli Xoli.
Leopards – 15 Tapiwa Mafura, 14 Rowayne Beukman, 13 Elden Schoeman, 12 Henko Marais, 11 Gene Willemse, 10 Gerhard Nortier, 9 Chriswill September, 8 Jeandré Rudolph (captain), 7 Marno Redelinghuys, 6 Gideon van der Merwe, 5 Walt Steenkamp, 4 HP Swart, 3 Schalk Jooste, 2 Dane van der Westhuysen, 1 Morné Strydom.
Replacements – 16 Cameron van Heerden, 17 Panda Dekker, 18 Boela Venter, 19 Juan Language, 22 Wessel Kuhn, 21 Schalk Hugo, 22 Jimmy Mpailane. – MORGAN PIEK
