Warren Gatland’s men take on the Currie Cup outfit at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in five days’ time as they warm up for the two-Test series with the Springboks in Durban and Nelspruit.
Lock forward Darron Nel will captain the side as former Springbok back row Luke Watson misses out with injury. Nel has plenty of experience at the top of both the southern and northern hemisphere club game having played Super Rugby for the Cheetahs and the Southern Kings and spent two seasons in the Top 14 with Castres Olympique.
South Africa Sevens star Kevin Luiters will provide plenty of pace from scrum half, while his halfback partner George Whitehead, openside flanker Devin Oosthuizen and loosehead prop Lizo Gqoboka are among those who played alongside Nel for the Southern Kings last season.
Former Leinster and London Irish prop CJ van der Linde doesn’t feature as he and fellow new signing Tim Whitehead only joined the group on Monday.
Eastern Province Kings are coached by ex-All Black playmaker Carlos Spencer, who took over in February of this year having previously held coaching roles with the Golden Lions and the Sharks.
“Our preparations have been really good in terms of conditioning and strength,” said Spencer, whose side will be looking for plenty of positives ahead of their Currie Cup campaign.
“The guys have been working hard off the field and now they are really looking forward to what happens on the field. We now need to see if the hard work they have done without the ball pays off.
“We really want to see what the guys are capable of and to gain some confidence and continuity. The main goal is August 8 (the start of the Currie Cup) and I want to see what the work rate and work ethic are like in these warm-up matches.”
Eastern Province Kings (v Wales, Tuesday, 6pm BST): 15 Hansie Greeff, 14 Siviwe Soyizwapi, 13 Ronnie Cooke, 12 Shane Gates, 11 Scott van Breda, 10 George Whitehead, 9 Kevin Luiters, 8 Paul Schoeman, 7 Devin Oosthuizen, 6 Thembelani Bholi, 5 Cameron Lindsay, 4 Darron Nell (capt), 3 Charl du Plessis, 2 Edgar Marutlulle, 1 Lizo Gqoboka
Replacements: 16 Albe de Swardt, 17 BG Uys, 18 Simon Kerrod, 19 Steven Cummins, 20 Stefan Willemse, 21 Jaco Grobler, 22 Dwayne Jenner, 23 Ntabeni Dukisa
