Cape Town - Jimmy Stonehouse will coach an exciting 30-man Carling Champions Match squad ahead of their fixture against Italy A at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday.
The Carling Champions Team is made up of Currie Cup players from around the country, as voted for by fans.
Stonehouse, who coached the Pumas to their first-ever Currie Cup final - which they won convincingly against Griquas in Kimberley at the weekend - will be in charge along with his provincial management team.
Springboks Cornal Hendricks (centre) and Embrose Papier (scrumhalf) and Robert Ebersohn, Clayton Blommetjies and Angelo Davids, who have represented the Blitzboks, bring some international flavour to the group.
The squad also features three players who were part of last year’s Carling Champions Team, which beat Kenya at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria. They are WP loose forward Nama Xaba and Bulls duo of Keagan Johannes (scrumhalf) and Simphiwe Matanzima (prop).
The match against Italia Emergenti is scheduled to kick off at 7.45pm, and fans can use the following voting mechanics to select for the captain: via USSD on *120*660* unique code# or via Facebook messenger.
Tickets are on sale from TicketPro at R49.
Carling Champions Team: 15 Clayton Blommetjies (Cheetahs), 14 Daniel Kasende (Cheetahs), 13 David Brits (Cheetahs), 12 Cornal Hendricks (Bulls), 11 Angelo Davids (WP), 10 Siya Masuku (Cheetahs), 9 Keagan Johannes (Bulls), 8 Mihlali Mosi (Cheetahs), 7 Sibusiso Sangweni (Lions), 6 Nama Xaba (WP), 5 Janko Swanepoel (Bulls), 4 Victor Sekekete (Cheetahs), 3 Robert Hunt (Bulls), 2 Marnus van der Merwe (Cheetahs), 1 Simphiwe Matanzima (Bulls).
Replacements: 16 Dan Jooste (Sharks), 17 Dewald Maritz (Pumas), 18 Kwenzo Blose (WP), 19 Shane Kirkwood (Pumas), 20 Willie Engelbrecht (Pumas), 21 Embrose Papier (Bulls), 22 Tristan Leyds (WP), 23 Devon Williams (Pumas).
Additional players: Eduan Swart (Pumas), Keke Morabe (WP), Andries Fouche (Pumas), Sanele Nohamba (Lions), Theo Boshoff (Griquas), Robert Ebersohn (Cheetahs), Alwayno Visagie (Pumas).
@WynonaLouw