Legendary former Springbok and Eastern Province centre Danie Gerber presented the EP Elephants with their match jerseys prior to Wednesday's preparation series clash against Griquas at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.
EP coach Peter de Villiers wrote on Twitter on Tuesday: "It was a true honour for myself and the squad to have the @ep_elephants and @Springboks LEGEND, Danie Gerber to hand the team their match shirts today."
It's been a tough start for EP in the preparation series - they lost their opener 87-10 to the Bulls in Pretoria and last week went down 54-24 at home to the Lions.
Gerber, 62, was a mainstay in the Eastern Province backline in the 1980s, representing the union in 115 games. He also had stints with Western Province (40) and Free State (24).
Due to South Africa's sporting isolation during apartheid, Gerber's international career was limited to 24 Tests for the Springboks between 1980 and 1992.
However, he made enough of an impact for many pundits to regard him as one of the most gifted centres ever to play international rugby.
Wednesday's match had to be brought forward from Saturday due to a logistical oversight which saw the match clash with a PSL fixture between Chippa and Swallows at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.
Kick-off is at 19:00.
Teams:
EP Elephants
15 Keanu Vers, 14 Riaan Arends, 13 Athi Mayinje, 12 Sherwin Slater, 11 Christopher Hollis, 10 Courtney Winnaar (captain), 9 Richman Gora, 8 Zingisa April, 7 Anele Lungisa, 6 Diego Williams, 5 Mncedisi Dlwengu, 4 Athenkosi Khetani, 3 Lumpumlo Mguca, 2 Robins Stevens, 1 Marzuq Maarman
Substitutes: 16 Sithembiso Befile, 17 Lyle Lombard, 18 Emile Klaassen, 19 Ronald Scheckle, 20 Bevin Prinsloo, 21 Athi Manentsa, 22 Josh Alderman, 23 Josiah Twum-Boafo
Griquas
15 Masixole Banda, 14 Daniel Kasende, 13 Michal Haznar, 12 Andre Swarts, 11 Enver Brandt, 10 Tinus de Beer, 9 Stefan Ungerer (captain), 8 Carl Els, 7 Stefan Willemse, 6 Gideon van der Merwe, 5 Cameron Lindsay, 4 Ewan Coetzee, 3 Tijde Visser, 2 Alandre van Rooyen, 1 Mox Mxoli
Substitutes (from): 16 HJ Luus, 17 Andrew Beerwinkel, 18 John-Roy Jenkinson, 19 Mzwanele Zito, 20 Adre Smith, 21 Ashlon Davids, 22 Johnathan Francke, 23 James Verity-Amm, 24 Bandisa Ndlovu, 25 Raegan Oranje, 26 Harlon Klaasen
It was a true honour for myself and the squad to have the @ep_elephants and @Springboks LEGEND, Danie Gerber to hand the team their match shirts today.#followtheherd pic.twitter.com/G77od4e1ST
— Peter de Villiers (@CoachPdV) March 16, 2021