The Eastern Province Kings host the Free State Cheetahs in a Round 6 ABSA Currie Cup encounter at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth tonight, but despite close results against the Sharks and Pumas they are still in hunt for their first win.
Despite a narrow four point lead at half-time during their match in Port Elizabeth last year, the Cheetahs turned a 16 - 10 half-time lead into a 37 - 22 win, as they outscored the home side four tries to three.
The teams also met in 2012 in the Promotion/Relegation play-offs, as the Cheetahs ended at the bottom of the log after only 3 wins from their 10 matches, and the Kings crowned ABSA First Division Champions for the second time since 2010.
The team from Bloemfontein was however too strong for the Kings as they won the first match comfortably at home 53 - 14 and the second at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium 16 - 6 to keep their spot in the Premier Division.
As the Kings, the Cheetahs are also having a difficult season, but slightly better positioned on the log as they are in fifth place on eleven points, with two wins from their five matches played to date, eight points ahead of the seventh placed Kings on three.
The Cheetahs started their campaign with two defeats, the first a heavy 19 - 57 loss against the Blue Bulls at home and the second a narrow 3 - 9 loss against Western Province on a wet Newlands in Cape Town. They got things back on track with two back-to-back wins, the first a convincing 31 - 9 win against the Griquas and the second a narrow 28 - 21 win against the Western Province in their return match in Bloemfontein, before losing to the unbeaten Bulls 24 - 17 at Loftus last weekend.
The Kings on the other hand have had two big defeats against the table topping Lions, 51 - 14 in Port Elizabeth and a 37 - 21 in their return fixture in Johannesburg.
They have had three close games where they picked up bonus points. The first for scoring four tries against the Sharks in their first match, but they can count themselves slightly unlucky not to get a second for losing within seven points when they lost 25 - 33 in Durban. They also picked up bonus points for losing by seven points or less when they faced the Sharks at home, going down 20 - 24 and another close one against the Pumas, 13 - 15.
As the "wooden spoonist" of last year's competition the Kings avoided the Relegation play-off due to a guaranteed two year inclusion, but that will not be the case this year and with only two home games left they really need to back themselves and proof to the rugby public they deserve their spot as much as any other team in the Premier Division.
Kick-off 19:10.
EP Kings:
15 Scott van Breda 14 Siyanda Grey 13 JP du Plessis 12Tim Whitehead (C) 11 Luther Obi 10 Karlo Aspeling 9 Enrico Acker 8 Tim Agaba 7 Thembelani Bholi 6 Paul Schoeman 5 Steven Sykes (vc), 4. Stefan Willemse 3 Tom Botha 2 Martin Ferreira 1 Lizo Gqoboka
Replacements:
16 Edgar Marutlulle 17 Schalk Ferreira 18 Simon Kerrod 19 Cornell Hess 20 Jacques Engelbrecht 21 Dwayne Kelly 22 Elgar Watts
Cheetahs:
15 Clayton Blommetjies 14 Sergeal Petersen 13 Francois Venter 12 Rayno Benjamin 11 Cornal Hendricks 10 Fred Zeilinga 9 Shaun Venter 8 Niell Jordaan 7 Oupa Mohoje (C) 6 Gerhard Olivier 5 Reniel Hugo 4 Armandt Koster 3 Luan de Bruin 2 Jacques du Toit 1 BG Uys
Replacements:
16 Elandre Huggett 17 Teunis Nieuwoudt 18 Francois Uys 19 Henco Venter 20 Freddy Ngoza 21 Ruan de Bruin 22 Sias Ebersohn
Despite a narrow four point lead at half-time during their match in Port Elizabeth last year, the Cheetahs turned a 16 - 10 half-time lead into a 37 - 22 win, as they outscored the home side four tries to three.
The teams also met in 2012 in the Promotion/Relegation play-offs, as the Cheetahs ended at the bottom of the log after only 3 wins from their 10 matches, and the Kings crowned ABSA First Division Champions for the second time since 2010.
The team from Bloemfontein was however too strong for the Kings as they won the first match comfortably at home 53 - 14 and the second at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium 16 - 6 to keep their spot in the Premier Division.
As the Kings, the Cheetahs are also having a difficult season, but slightly better positioned on the log as they are in fifth place on eleven points, with two wins from their five matches played to date, eight points ahead of the seventh placed Kings on three.
The Cheetahs started their campaign with two defeats, the first a heavy 19 - 57 loss against the Blue Bulls at home and the second a narrow 3 - 9 loss against Western Province on a wet Newlands in Cape Town. They got things back on track with two back-to-back wins, the first a convincing 31 - 9 win against the Griquas and the second a narrow 28 - 21 win against the Western Province in their return match in Bloemfontein, before losing to the unbeaten Bulls 24 - 17 at Loftus last weekend.
The Kings on the other hand have had two big defeats against the table topping Lions, 51 - 14 in Port Elizabeth and a 37 - 21 in their return fixture in Johannesburg.
They have had three close games where they picked up bonus points. The first for scoring four tries against the Sharks in their first match, but they can count themselves slightly unlucky not to get a second for losing within seven points when they lost 25 - 33 in Durban. They also picked up bonus points for losing by seven points or less when they faced the Sharks at home, going down 20 - 24 and another close one against the Pumas, 13 - 15.
As the "wooden spoonist" of last year's competition the Kings avoided the Relegation play-off due to a guaranteed two year inclusion, but that will not be the case this year and with only two home games left they really need to back themselves and proof to the rugby public they deserve their spot as much as any other team in the Premier Division.
Kick-off 19:10.
EP Kings:
15 Scott van Breda 14 Siyanda Grey 13 JP du Plessis 12Tim Whitehead (C) 11 Luther Obi 10 Karlo Aspeling 9 Enrico Acker 8 Tim Agaba 7 Thembelani Bholi 6 Paul Schoeman 5 Steven Sykes (vc), 4. Stefan Willemse 3 Tom Botha 2 Martin Ferreira 1 Lizo Gqoboka
Replacements:
16 Edgar Marutlulle 17 Schalk Ferreira 18 Simon Kerrod 19 Cornell Hess 20 Jacques Engelbrecht 21 Dwayne Kelly 22 Elgar Watts
Cheetahs:
15 Clayton Blommetjies 14 Sergeal Petersen 13 Francois Venter 12 Rayno Benjamin 11 Cornal Hendricks 10 Fred Zeilinga 9 Shaun Venter 8 Niell Jordaan 7 Oupa Mohoje (C) 6 Gerhard Olivier 5 Reniel Hugo 4 Armandt Koster 3 Luan de Bruin 2 Jacques du Toit 1 BG Uys
Replacements:
16 Elandre Huggett 17 Teunis Nieuwoudt 18 Francois Uys 19 Henco Venter 20 Freddy Ngoza 21 Ruan de Bruin 22 Sias Ebersohn
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