Eastern Province have been forced to cancel a scheduled warm-up match against the Cheetahs, disrupting both teams’ SA Cup preparations.
Netwerk24 reports that EP played practice matches against the Border Bulldogs and the SWD Eagles over the past two weeks, suffering a slew of injuries to their loosehead prop ranks. In the latter fixture, the teams were forced to have uncontested scrums for 45 minutes.
EP general manager Mziwoxolo Mpofu said in a letter that the decision to call off the fixture against the Cheetahs, scheduled for Saturday in Nxuba (Cradock), was not taken lightly.
“After Saturday’s match against SWD, we have sustained two more injuries, which now leaves us with a total of four injured loosehead props,” he said.
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The EP match was the Cheetahs’ only scheduled warm-up ahead of the SA Cup. Frans Steyn’s side will now have a few contact sessions against the Griffons this week.
EP open their SA Cup campaign against the Valke in Gqeberha on 6 March, while the Cheetahs face Boland in Bloemfontein on 7 March.
Photo: Michael Sheehan/Gallo Images
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