Preview: Worcester v Drostdy

HTS Drostdy will be looking to maintain their winning ways over bitter rivals Worcester Gimnasium when the schools lock horns in a FNB Classic Clash.

Worcester's coach Marius van der Bank believes his team has what it takes to pull off an upset despite Drostdy dominating the recent encounters.

"Most of the team have been playing together since Grade Eight and we have prepared well for the upcoming Classic Clash. It will definitely be an exciting game and we are looking forward to a tough match.

"Drostdy have always been a physical side and their pack of forwards are usually much bigger than ours but we will be looking to make use of our exciting backline to take the game to them. We have not had the best results against them in the past but they have not had any run-away victories. Hopefully we will be able to pull off an upset," he said.

Drostdy have been hampered by a few injuries but coach Hein Matthee believes their preparations are on track as they too, are expecting a highly physical battle.

"We know Worcester has their best team they have been able to field in a number of years, so it will definitely be a physically tough battle. We have prepared well for the match despite us being hampered with a few injuries.

"These matches are always tough and we may have dominated them in the recent past and we have managed to sneak in the victories but we are not taking anything for granted. We need to ensure that we dominate up front and allow our backline to get quality service so that they can fire and produce some scintillating running rugby," Matthee said.

Teams:

Worcester: 15 Thirlo Frdericks, 14 Jeanrick Scheepers, 13 Julian Lodewyk, 12 Gustav September, 11 Lakanyo Magele, 10 Adriaan vd Bank, 9 Lyle Olson, 8 Steyn Olivier, 7 Bradman Grove, 6 Emile Barnard, 5 Charl Schoeman, 4 Daniel vd Berg, 3 Denver Prins, 2 Jeshau Paul, 1 Mias Coetzee.

Replacements: 16 Luke Titus, 17 Reinardt Stemmet, 18 Jacques Morkel, 19 Ethan Setera, 20 Pieter Coetzee, 21 Brenwin Samauls, 22 Rivaldo Morgan, 23 Pieter Swart.

Drostdy: 15 Earl Douwrie, 14 Jo’ah Davids, 13 Gevin Scheepers, 12 Jay-Dee vd Westhuizen, 11 Direnzo Phillips, 10 Andre Swanepoel, 9 Lynthen Barties, 8 Evan Booysen, 7 Jurie Fick, 6 Albert Liebenberg, 5 SJ Wessels, 4 Erik Groenewald, 3 Rossouw Prins, 2 Zander Fernhout, 1 Pieter Stassen.

Replacements: 16 Franco Fourie, 17 Bron Lee Mouries, 18 Aristo Nolann, 19 Theodore Pienaar, 20 Corne Prins, 21 Lourens vd Berg, 22 Juan v Niekerk.

Referee: Jabian Jeftha

Assistant referees: Local