That is the new challenge that faces the Southern Kings in Port Elizabeth on Friday evening when they will get their first taste of an opponent from New Zealand. Pundits say that this Friday’s game is the one that will be the real indicator of the Southern Kings performance going forward in this tough competition. This will also be the last home manage before the Kings head Down under to do a bit of work.
Last weekend, the Kings managed to keep The Sharks tryless, although going down 21-12 at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium. This time, the Chiefs are in town, and as the DHL Stormers experienced first-hand last weekend, keeping them at bay is not as easy.
With 14 tries from their first three matches, the Chiefs are leading the stakes when it comes to five-pointers in 2013. The Blues, with 11, and Brumbies with 10, are already lagging behind, with less than a quarter of the season completed.
So good are the Chiefs with ball in hand, that last weekend they became the first team in almost four years to score four tries against the DHL Stormers at DHL Newlands.
But the Kings themselves will be looking at more of a ball in hand approach this weekend, if only to keep the Chiefs’ attacking opportunities to a minimum. They’ve only scored two tries thus far in 2013, both by exciting wing prospect Sergeal Petersen in their opening match against the Force three weeks ago.
“The Chiefs have good depth right across the board … so we will have a bit of a job on our hands and look forward to the challenge,” said Matt Sexton, head coach of the Kings.
“Part of being defensive (last week) was that we didn’t hold onto the ball properly. We made some silly errors and turned over ball when we shouldn’t have. I think if we held onto the ball for a number of phases it might have been a different story.
“So we’ve been working on that at training. The players have seen the pictures and the implications of letting go of the ball to easily. The Chiefs have threats right across the board. They’re pretty clinical when you turn over the ball or on a miscued kick or things like that.
“We want to be nice and tidy with what we do and I think that if we do that we’ll present a good challenge to them.”
Darron Nell, who will once again captain the Kings in the absence of the injured Luke Watson, said he was looking forward to Friday’s match against the defending Vodacom Super Rugby champions.
“Last week we had the Sharks and this week we have the Chiefs, the two finalists from last year,” said Nell. “I think we just want to concentrate on our processes and make sure that they work well and I think the results will look after themselves. Without a doubt it’s going to be a tough game but we just want to look at ourselves and make sure we can do what we can do properly.”
The teams are:
- Southern Kings: SP Marais, Sergeal Petersen, Ronnie Cooke, Andries Strauss, Marcello Sampson, Demetri Catrakillis, Shaun Venter; Jacques Engelbrecht, Wimpie van der Walt, Cornell du Preez, Steve Sykes, Darron Nell (captain), Kevin Buys, Bandise Maku, Schalk Ferreira. Replacements: Edgar Marutlulle, Jaco Engels, David Bulbring, Daniel Adongo, Nicolas Vergallo, George Whitehead, Hadleigh Parkes
- Chiefs: Gareth Anscombe, Lelia Masaga, Tim Nanai-Williams, Andrew Horrell, Asaeli Tikoirotuma, Aaron Cruden, Tawera Kerr-Barlow, Ross Filipo, Tanerau Latimer, Liam Messam, Michael Fitzgerald, Craig Clarke (captain), Ben Afeaki, Hika Elliot, Pauliasi Manu. Replacements: Rhys Marshall, Pauliasi Manu, Brodie Retallick, Sam Cane, Augustine Pulu, Charlie Ngatai, Patrick Osborne.
See all the 2013 Southern Kings Results.
Two of the three unbeaten teams left in Vodacom Super Rugby clash at Kings Park in Durban on Saturday afternoon when The Sharks host the table-topping Australian Brumbies.
The Brumbies, with former Springbok coach Jake White in charge, have been quite impressive lately – they have conceded only one try in 240 minutes of rugby. On the contrary, The Sharks have not really set the world alight in their first three matches, but despite their wavering form, they are still unbeaten.
The third unbeaten side in 2013, the Vodacom Bulls, will aim to break another duck when they face the winless Crusaders in Christchurch on Saturday morning. These two sides count amongst the most successful teams in the history of Vodacom Super Rugby.
In the two other matches featuring South African teams, the Toyota Cheetahs will play the their “favourite Aussie team”, the Waratahs, in Sydney on Friday morning and the Southern Kings will have their work cut out for them against the defending champion Chiefs in Port Elizabeth on Friday evening.
