The Southern Kings have showed what a team can do with a little heart and determination, and what you can accomplish if you want to prove a point. They were given very little chance of any success during their debut Super Rugby season, in fact not even a win and most will be like "cricket scores".
Questions were asked if they will have the depth to outlast the tough competition, will they get a sponsor and will they be able to fill the stadium. A vast majority of South Africans were against the inclusion and might still be after they replaced the Lions who finished last on the over all log in last year competition.
The franchise struggled to sign any big names or former Eastern Cape players as that was the original plan to bring those players back home. The Kings have already secured former Eastern Cape boys, Luke Watson who returned to South Africa after leaving English club Bath and Micheal Killian who decided to return to Port Elizabeth to further his career after a successful 3 years at the Lions which included the Currie Cup in 2010.
New signing included one former Eastern Cape boy and Sharks lock Steven Sykes, Cheetah center Andries Strauss, Lions hooker Bandisa Maku and Lions lock David Bulbring. They also caused a lot of controversy when they named all their foreign players in their Super Rugby squad, namely Daniel Adongo, Nicolas Vergallo, Thomas Leonardi, Virgile Lacombe and Hadleigh Parks.
Parks was the only player that featured regularly in the starting xv at center but when he broke his arm it gave an opportunity to Ronnie Cooke to make that jersey his own. Very little did we know Maku will keep French hooker Virgile Lacombe out of the starting xv, Maku is really been one of the players that took full advantage of this opportunity to play Super Rugby at the Southern Kings and has been one of the stand out players and played himself as the first choice hooker who keeps on improving game by game. Daniel Adongo and Thomas Leonardi had to happy to play a handful of games and help out at the Vodacom Cup as local players Wimpie van der Walt and Cornel du Preez are keeping them out of the team. Argentinian scrumhalf Nicolas Vergallo is the only other player thats had regular game time, but also second choice to Shaun Venter.
Before the start of the season you would have probably said who's Cornel du Preez, Wimpie van der Walt, Shaun Venter and Jacques Engebrecht. Demetri Catrakilis is not a first choice Super Rugby flyhalf. Andries Strauss, Ronnie Cooke and Steven Sykes are past their prime and cant keep up with the pace anymore. Sergeal Petersen is too young to be playing Super Ruby at the age of 18.
The Southern Kings started their Super Rugby by re-writing the history books as the only new franchise to enter the competition and win their first game when they beat the Western Force in front of a packed Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth op the 23rd of February 2013. That game will also be remembered for young Sergeal Petersens two tries and being awarded man of the match in his debut game. The Southern Kings went into their next to games facing the finalists of last years Super Rugby competition, losing to the Sharks by 9 points and the Chiefs by 11 points.
Most expected the worst for their first over seas tour, facing the Canterbury Crusaders, Hurricanes, Brumbies and Melbourne Rebels. Their 100+ score line against 7 times Super Rugby Champions Crusaders turned out to be a 35 point difference. The game against the Hurricanes would've been the one where they get humiliated, that turned out to be a 16 point ball game. The Southern Kings started to get momentum and started believing in themselves as they headed to Australia to face the Brumbies and the Rebels. They probably managed to biggest upset when they drew 28 all against then over all log leaders the Brumbies as they went the extra mile to score their bonus point and equalising try in the 82 minute of the game. The following week they went one step further and won their first game over seas as they beat the Rebels with an injury time drop goal by Demetri Catrakilis, 27 - 30. The Southern Kings returned to Port Elizabeth as heroes, bringing back 7 log points from their 4 games.
Questions were asked if they will have the depth to outlast the tough competition, will they get a sponsor and will they be able to fill the stadium. A vast majority of South Africans were against the inclusion and might still be after they replaced the Lions who finished last on the over all log in last year competition.
The franchise struggled to sign any big names or former Eastern Cape players as that was the original plan to bring those players back home. The Kings have already secured former Eastern Cape boys, Luke Watson who returned to South Africa after leaving English club Bath and Micheal Killian who decided to return to Port Elizabeth to further his career after a successful 3 years at the Lions which included the Currie Cup in 2010.
New signing included one former Eastern Cape boy and Sharks lock Steven Sykes, Cheetah center Andries Strauss, Lions hooker Bandisa Maku and Lions lock David Bulbring. They also caused a lot of controversy when they named all their foreign players in their Super Rugby squad, namely Daniel Adongo, Nicolas Vergallo, Thomas Leonardi, Virgile Lacombe and Hadleigh Parks.
Parks was the only player that featured regularly in the starting xv at center but when he broke his arm it gave an opportunity to Ronnie Cooke to make that jersey his own. Very little did we know Maku will keep French hooker Virgile Lacombe out of the starting xv, Maku is really been one of the players that took full advantage of this opportunity to play Super Rugby at the Southern Kings and has been one of the stand out players and played himself as the first choice hooker who keeps on improving game by game. Daniel Adongo and Thomas Leonardi had to happy to play a handful of games and help out at the Vodacom Cup as local players Wimpie van der Walt and Cornel du Preez are keeping them out of the team. Argentinian scrumhalf Nicolas Vergallo is the only other player thats had regular game time, but also second choice to Shaun Venter.
Before the start of the season you would have probably said who's Cornel du Preez, Wimpie van der Walt, Shaun Venter and Jacques Engebrecht. Demetri Catrakilis is not a first choice Super Rugby flyhalf. Andries Strauss, Ronnie Cooke and Steven Sykes are past their prime and cant keep up with the pace anymore. Sergeal Petersen is too young to be playing Super Ruby at the age of 18.
The Southern Kings started their Super Rugby by re-writing the history books as the only new franchise to enter the competition and win their first game when they beat the Western Force in front of a packed Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth op the 23rd of February 2013. That game will also be remembered for young Sergeal Petersens two tries and being awarded man of the match in his debut game. The Southern Kings went into their next to games facing the finalists of last years Super Rugby competition, losing to the Sharks by 9 points and the Chiefs by 11 points.
Most expected the worst for their first over seas tour, facing the Canterbury Crusaders, Hurricanes, Brumbies and Melbourne Rebels. Their 100+ score line against 7 times Super Rugby Champions Crusaders turned out to be a 35 point difference. The game against the Hurricanes would've been the one where they get humiliated, that turned out to be a 16 point ball game. The Southern Kings started to get momentum and started believing in themselves as they headed to Australia to face the Brumbies and the Rebels. They probably managed to biggest upset when they drew 28 all against then over all log leaders the Brumbies as they went the extra mile to score their bonus point and equalising try in the 82 minute of the game. The following week they went one step further and won their first game over seas as they beat the Rebels with an injury time drop goal by Demetri Catrakilis, 27 - 30. The Southern Kings returned to Port Elizabeth as heroes, bringing back 7 log points from their 4 games.
Part two to follow...
SARU will be stupid not to include the Kings in the CC Premier Division
ReplyDeleteIt will be in Kings best interest to play CC Premier Div, but it shouldn't be at the expense of any other SA team, its sad that SR turned into a Kings v Lions.
Delete