The Royal XV (AKA Highveld XV) will be made up of players from the Griquas, the Leopards, Griffons, Valke, Pumas and perhaps Blue Bulls.
The Griquashave 13 players in the team,(which is greatly thanks to their Vodacom Cup victory i think.) but no one to really look out for. Riaan Viljoen is pretty good, and had some solid performances in the domestic competition this year.
The Leopards have 10 representatives, and the Pumas have 4. also include. Neither the Griffons nor the Valke, the two other major sides in the union, have players in the squad.
Royal XV squad to face the Lions on May 30
Russell Jeacocks (Leopards), Colin Lloyd (Leopards), Egon Seconds (Griquas), Bjorn Basson (Griquas), Deon van Rensburg (Leopards), Basil de Doncker (Leopards), Hanno Coetzee (Griquas) Riaan Viljoen (Griquas), Naas Olivier (Griquas), Michael Bondesio (Leopards), Jacques Coetzee (Pumas), Sarel Pretorius (Griquas), Jonathan Makoena (Griquas), RW Kember (Leopards) Devon Raubenheimer (Griquas), Wilhelm Koch (Leopards), Jaco Bouwer (Pumas), Ligtoring Landman (Leopards), Rudi Mathee (Leopards), Jacques Lombard (Griquas), Bees Roux (Griquas) Rayno Barnes (Griquas), Hannes Franklin (Pumas), Pellow van der Westhuizen (Leopards) Albertus Buckle (Griquas), Dawie Steyn (Pumas), Stef Roberts (Griquas)
No real spectacular talents there, but it is a fantastic opportunity for these players to be involved in a historic event such as this one.
That's pretty much it. They are a very weak team, and i reckon even a second Lions team could whack 60 or 70 on these guys. Anyway, The match is being played in Rustenburg at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium. The Springboks have only ever played there once, and managed to beat the All Blacks at the venue. The stadium is pretty much finished with renovations that were being done in order to be 2010 ready. It's extremely hot there, although winter conditions should make it a good playing field.
Kick-off is @ 15:00 CAT on Saturday May 30.
Here are some interesting facts about the city:
- Rustenburg is one of the host cities of the 2010 Football World Cup with the 40 000 seat Royal Bafokeng Stadium.
- Rustenburg is also reported to be the fastest growing city in South Africa
- Rustenburg is home to the two largest platinum mines in the world and the world's largest platinum refinery, PMR (Precious Metal Refiners), which processes around 70% of the world's platinum.
It's really just a game for everyone to get into the whole series (and for us to sum up your boys!). I will provide info on all the teams and venues as soon as i can get info, and post some interesting stuff about the venues in the respective threads.