Tornadoes gearing up for opener

UCT's 2009 Steinhoff Internal League winners, the Steinhoff Tornadoes, will be playing in their first-ever Steinhoff Koshuisrugby Championships on Monday afternoon.

They will be up against a determined Madibaz (NMMU) side that will be looking for revenge after their main team suffered a 9-65 Varsity Cup loss to UCT this past Monday.

Both teams - the Nadoes and the Madibaz - are newcomers to this competition. The Tornadoes, with home-ground advantage are odds-on favourites to win this encounter, but surely you cannot write off the tricky Steinhoff Madibaz side from Port Elizabeth.

The Tornadoes go into this match with a recent hard-fought 25-23 win over False Bay.

However, head coach for the Tornadoes, Tom Dawson-Squibb, has made minor changers after the Bay win; with the likes of Ryan Dean, Zubayr 'Egg' Abrahams and Xanti Nesi all making welcome starts for the Nadoes.

The Nadoes team: 15 Leigh Bruinders, 14 JP Van Huffel, 13 Justin Bijl, 12 Mark Winter, 11 Zubayr Abrahams, 10 Matthew Russell, 9 Xanti Nesi, 8 Damion Stander, 7 Brennan Wright, 6 Stuart Hablutzel, 5 Grayson Rice, 4 Tom Horne, 3 Simon Bergman, 2 Ryan Dean, 1 Brad van der Westhuizen (captain).
Replacements: 16 Wade Swannel, 17 Anthony Koudaris, 18 Brett Snyders, 19 Ollie Johnston, 20 Ian Armstrong, 21 Trent Jenkinson, 22 Kerrick Allenbrook.

Head coach: Tom Dawson-Squibb
Manager: Justin Mitchell

Kick-off: 2.45pm