The Southern Kings are back at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium after their two week New Zealand tour where they faced Crusaders and Hurricanes, but they will be straight back in action in an historic first Vodacom Super Rugby match against the Japanese new comers, HITO- Communications Sunwolves.
Following on Japans' success at the 2015 Rugby World Cup, the Sunwolves have had three closely contested matches, all at their home venues in Tokyo and Singapore, which will make the match against the Southern Kings their first tour match.
They gave the visiting Lions a good go in their first taste of Super Rugby at the Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium in Tokyo, but went down 13 - 26 in the end.
Their second match against the Cheetahs at the Singapore National Stadium was however a much closer contest as just one point separated the teams in the end after the Sunwolves took a 28 - 13 half-time lead. Two missed penalties proofed costly for the home side as the visitors scored three second half tries as the match ended 31 - 32 to the Cheetahs, but the home side picked up their first bonus point for losing with less then seven points.
The Australian side, the Rebels, had an easy bonus point win in Round 4 against the Japanese outfit, as they scored four tries to none, to record their heaviest defeat to date, 9 - 35.
Last week they picked up another losing bonus point as they lost by just three points against three time Super Rugby champions the Bulls at Prince Chicibu Memorial Stadium in Tokyo.
The Southern Kings, on the other hand, had a much tougher challenge across the Indian Ocean against the seven time Super Rugby champions the Crusaders at Christchurch and last year's runners-up the Hurricanes in Wellington.
In their first match against Crusaders, the Southern Kings took an early 10 - 0 lead up until the fifteenth minute, but the home side struck back with 29 unanswered points as the first half ended 29 - 10. The Southern Kings scored a further two tries, which included one from hooker Edgar Marutlulle who scored his third try in as many games, but the Crusaders showed their class as they added another four second half tries to end the match 57 - 24.
The Southern Kings' second match against last year's runner-up was a much closer affair as only eight points separated the two sides as they headed into the final ten minutes. Captain, Steven Sykes who played in his 100th Super Rugby match was rewarded with a try in the first half, along with twelfth points from Louis Fouche which included a try on half-time as the visitors trailed by two points, 17 - 19. Fouche added another three points at the end of the third quarter, but a win in New Zealand was not on the cards for the Southern Kings as the Hurricanes scored 17 points in the last ten minutes as the score ended 42 - 20.
Both the Sunwolves and the Southern Kings occupy the bottom of their respective African Conferences, but the visiting Sunwolves are currently better positioned on the South African Group with two log points. Both teams have scored eight tries a piece, only two less then Group leaders, the DHL Stormers.
A Southern Kings win tomorrow will put them ahead of the Sunwolves on the combined log and within two points of the sixth placed Cheetahs.
Kick-off is at 17:05.
Southern Kings:
15 Jurgen Visser 14 Siyanda Grey 13 Stefan Watermeyer 12 Shane Gates 11 Malcolm Jaer 10 Louis Fouche 9 Ntando Kebe 8 Aidon Davis 7 Stefan Willemse 6 CJ Velleman 5 JC Astle 4 Steven Sykes (c) 3 Jacobie Adriaanse 2 Edgar Marrutlulle 1 Sti Sithole
Substitutes:
16 Martin Ferreira 17 Schalk Ferreira 18 Tom Botha 19 Schalk Oelofse 20 Chris Cloete 21 Kevin Luiters 22 Elgar Watts 23 Jaco van Tonder
Sunwolves:
15 Riaan Viljoen 14 Viliami Lolohea 13 Harumichi Tatekawa 12 Yu Tamura 11 Akihito Yamada 10 Tusi Pisi 9 Kaito Shigeno 8 Ed Quirk 7 Andrew Durutalo 6 Liaki Moli 5 Timothy Bond 4 Hitoshi Ono 3 Shinnosuke Kakinaga 2 Shota Horie (c) 1 Keita Inagaki
Substitutes:
16 Futoshi Mori 17 Masataka Mikami 18 Takuma Asahara 19 Shinya Makabe 20 Yoshiya Hosoda 21 Tomás Leonardi 22 Yuki Yatomi 23 Mifiposeti Paea
Following on Japans' success at the 2015 Rugby World Cup, the Sunwolves have had three closely contested matches, all at their home venues in Tokyo and Singapore, which will make the match against the Southern Kings their first tour match.
They gave the visiting Lions a good go in their first taste of Super Rugby at the Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium in Tokyo, but went down 13 - 26 in the end.
Their second match against the Cheetahs at the Singapore National Stadium was however a much closer contest as just one point separated the teams in the end after the Sunwolves took a 28 - 13 half-time lead. Two missed penalties proofed costly for the home side as the visitors scored three second half tries as the match ended 31 - 32 to the Cheetahs, but the home side picked up their first bonus point for losing with less then seven points.
The Australian side, the Rebels, had an easy bonus point win in Round 4 against the Japanese outfit, as they scored four tries to none, to record their heaviest defeat to date, 9 - 35.
Last week they picked up another losing bonus point as they lost by just three points against three time Super Rugby champions the Bulls at Prince Chicibu Memorial Stadium in Tokyo.
The Southern Kings, on the other hand, had a much tougher challenge across the Indian Ocean against the seven time Super Rugby champions the Crusaders at Christchurch and last year's runners-up the Hurricanes in Wellington.
In their first match against Crusaders, the Southern Kings took an early 10 - 0 lead up until the fifteenth minute, but the home side struck back with 29 unanswered points as the first half ended 29 - 10. The Southern Kings scored a further two tries, which included one from hooker Edgar Marutlulle who scored his third try in as many games, but the Crusaders showed their class as they added another four second half tries to end the match 57 - 24.
The Southern Kings' second match against last year's runner-up was a much closer affair as only eight points separated the two sides as they headed into the final ten minutes. Captain, Steven Sykes who played in his 100th Super Rugby match was rewarded with a try in the first half, along with twelfth points from Louis Fouche which included a try on half-time as the visitors trailed by two points, 17 - 19. Fouche added another three points at the end of the third quarter, but a win in New Zealand was not on the cards for the Southern Kings as the Hurricanes scored 17 points in the last ten minutes as the score ended 42 - 20.
Both the Sunwolves and the Southern Kings occupy the bottom of their respective African Conferences, but the visiting Sunwolves are currently better positioned on the South African Group with two log points. Both teams have scored eight tries a piece, only two less then Group leaders, the DHL Stormers.
A Southern Kings win tomorrow will put them ahead of the Sunwolves on the combined log and within two points of the sixth placed Cheetahs.
Kick-off is at 17:05.
Southern Kings:
15 Jurgen Visser 14 Siyanda Grey 13 Stefan Watermeyer 12 Shane Gates 11 Malcolm Jaer 10 Louis Fouche 9 Ntando Kebe 8 Aidon Davis 7 Stefan Willemse 6 CJ Velleman 5 JC Astle 4 Steven Sykes (c) 3 Jacobie Adriaanse 2 Edgar Marrutlulle 1 Sti Sithole
Substitutes:
16 Martin Ferreira 17 Schalk Ferreira 18 Tom Botha 19 Schalk Oelofse 20 Chris Cloete 21 Kevin Luiters 22 Elgar Watts 23 Jaco van Tonder
Sunwolves:
15 Riaan Viljoen 14 Viliami Lolohea 13 Harumichi Tatekawa 12 Yu Tamura 11 Akihito Yamada 10 Tusi Pisi 9 Kaito Shigeno 8 Ed Quirk 7 Andrew Durutalo 6 Liaki Moli 5 Timothy Bond 4 Hitoshi Ono 3 Shinnosuke Kakinaga 2 Shota Horie (c) 1 Keita Inagaki
Substitutes:
16 Futoshi Mori 17 Masataka Mikami 18 Takuma Asahara 19 Shinya Makabe 20 Yoshiya Hosoda 21 Tomás Leonardi 22 Yuki Yatomi 23 Mifiposeti Paea
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