Thursday 16 January 2014

Players, coaches and pre season friendlies

EP Rugby confirmed at the end of last year that they will be playing the Cheetahs, Lions and the Stormers in pre season friendlies at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, in Port Elizabeth. The Southern Kings franchise will take on the Cheetahs in the first friendly in two weeks time, on the 25th of January, followed by the Lions, and finishing off on the 7th of February against the Stormers.

In last years Super Rugby competition, the Southern Kings lost to the Cheetahs 12 - 26 in Bloemfontein and 22 - 34 in their return leg in Port Elizabeth. They pushed the Stormers in Cape Town and narrowly lost out on a losing bonus point, as the final score ended 11 - 19. They failed to produce the goods at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium and went down 12 - 24. The Southern Kings faced the relegated Lions in a home and away promotion / relegation match at the end of competition, with the Lions winning the first one in Port Elizabeth with 7 points, 26 - 19. The Southern Kings had to beat the Lions at home by 8 points to secure another year in the competition. At the end they did manage the unexpected by beating the Lions in front of a packed Ellis Park, but were unable to wipe out the 7 point deficit as the game ended 23 - 18, in favour of the Southern Kings.

A max exodus of players and coaches followed after the Southern Kings failed to secure another year in Super Rugby. There were a lot of positives and negatives for the union in their 1 year inclusion as many fringe players stepped up to the plate to be accounted for. The players earned respect as they battled week in and week out against the best in the world. The result was that many left to go play either overseas or to join other South African unions to play Currie Cup. 

Two of them played in the final as Demetri Catrakilis went back to Western Province and SP Marais accepted an offer from the Currie Cup Champions, the Sharks. While Wimpie van der Walt, Andries Strauss, Cornel du Preez and Schalk Ferreira all opted for overseas contracts. And with more local players invited to Super Rugby training camps like Rynier Bernardo and Shane Gates at the Cheetahs and Scott van Breda at the Stormers they could face losing more valuable players. 

With the uncertainty of playing Currie Cup Premier Division the Kings opted to invest in a lot of their u21 players, who did the province proud as they won the B section of the ABSA u21 Competition.

The Kings have also done well to secure new coaching staff as they start rebuilding towards Super Rugby 2016. Director of Rugby, Alan Solomons, parted ways with the Kings to take up a position at Edinburgh Rugby in Scotland. Head Coach, Matt Sexton, went back to New Zealand, and Vodacom Cup and EP Kings Currie Cup coach, David Maidza, took over as head coach at the NMMU Madibaz. The Kings have managed to secure the services of Michael Horak, who's been the defence coach for the Cheetahs since 2010. Former New Zealand fly-half Carlos Spencer, who coached at the Lions and the Sharks, has also signed a 5 year deal as he will be focusing on the back line and skills training. With Solomons position still available, one can only hope the rumours of former Springbok Assistant Coach and Head Coach of Bath Rugby, Gary Gold, are true and he'll make his way to Port Elizabeth in the near future.

Tickets for the friendlies will be available at the EP Rugby offices or at Compu Ticket for R50.