After numerous weeks of exams and holiday, the FNB Ikey Tigers are back in action this Saturday when they travel to Kuilsriver. While many had hoped that the majority of players would have recovered from injuries during long break, seventeen players are still unavailable for Saturday’s match. Amongst these players is Guy Alexander, who captained the side during their 2016 FNB Varsity Cup campaign, as he has unfortunately been ruled out for the rest of the season.
“I did expect more guys to be back from injury by now, but we’ll have more players available for selection in about two or three weeks. We’re still better off than the end of the first half of the season, though,” said head coach Christiaan Esterhuizen.
The holidays weren’t all fun and games for the team, as each player had the responsibility to keep training on their own. “Every player had an individual fitness plan drawn up for them that was tailored to their specific goals, so some of our players are coming out of the holidays very fit,” Esterhuizen said.
When asked about what he hopes the team will achieve in the last half of the season, Esterhuizen was clear when he stated that the team intends to win every game. “We’re planning to get seven wins from seven games now, and that will put us back in that top four position where we really should be.”
“Firstly, we want to improve our position on the log. We also want to try some new things and experiment a bit for next year’s Varsity Cup already,” he added.
“We’re expecting wet conditions on Saturday, and we know that Kuilsriver is a team that like to run and play a bit, so we’ll try to hit them on the counter attack. We’ll have pretty much the same backline as before, and we’ve got our locks back so we’ll be strong,” Esterhuizen concluded.
The FNB Ikey Tigers will take on Kuilsriver 1st XV on Saturday, the 23rd of July at 15:30 at Kuilsriver A.
