As Ulster arrive in South Africa today, coach Kiss insists his injury-hits quad must step up against Boks
WITH his squad set to land in South Africa this afternoon, Ulster Director of Rugby Les Kiss believes the Southern Kings and Toyota Cheetahs are improving the Guinness PRO14.
The two discarded Super Rugby sides were included in the cross-border competition at short notice this summer but, despite the much-needed financial injection, there have been some teething problems in the early going.
Leinster’s own trip south in the early weeks of the season was blighted by visa issues for Isa Nacewa and Jamison Gibson-Park, while there was also an incident when Cian Healy was forced to leave a plane after a misunderstanding with a laptop.
The Ospreys, meanwhile, made some off-the-pitch headlines of their own when Welsh international hooker Scott Baldwin ended up missing his side’s game against the Cheetahs after being bitten by a lion.
And while the Bloemfontein-based Cheetahs have been holding their own — they have yielded 20 points from seven games and occupy a play-off spot in Conference A at this early stage of the season — the Southern Kings have yet to take a single point ahead of Ulster’s visit on Saturday (1pm kick-off ).
It is interesting to note, too, that after the 43,000-seater Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium was left feeling cavernous in their opening games, Southern Kings have moved the contest to the less glamorous, and considerably smaller, Isaac Wolfson Stadium.
“They’ve brought something,” said Kiss, who spent time in South Africa himself when working as the Springboks’ defence coach in 2001-02.
“We can pick at the bits (that haven’t gone well) if we want, or we can look at what it can be and what it will be.
“They’re trying to bring a different flavour to a competition that has been the same for a long time. I hope it’s a success.”
In the short-term, though, the trip brings its own unique difficulties.
Ulster left Belfast yesterday afternoon but will travel through London and Johannesburg before arriving in Port Elizabeth at around 2.30pm UK time today.
With only 25 players able to make the trip, decisions on touch and go injuries had to be made on Sunday, while time on the training paddock will be limited.
“That’s what it is,” Kiss added of travelling without their Irish international contingent and off the back of two losses. “We can lean on that and use it as a way out but we won’t. I won’t let that happen and the coaches won’t let that happen. We need to be better than we have been and that starts with the first part of preparation.
“That starts now. There’s 24 hours of travel, it’s a long flight, and we have to hit the ground running when we get there.
“We’ll get one good session and a captain’s run. We’ll have to mix up the training in the off time to make it work.
“There’s a genuine enthusiasm about it but we’re not going on holiday, we’re going for a job.
“Rugby is like that, it gives you these experiences but it comes down to 80 minutes and there’s no doubt we’re excited and enthused about it.”
The Kings have also had to undertake a lengthy journey ahead of the game having been away to Glasgow last weekend.
Their seventh loss in seven games produced a number of injury concerns. Fly-half Martin du Toit, who was making his debut against the Warriors, has already been ruled out, while captain Michael Willemse headlines a list of doubts which also includes wing Alshaun Bock and prop Rossouw de Klerk.
Team doctor Clement Plaatjies said: “Michael Willemse has been battling with an abdominal strain for a while now. It only seems to flare up during matches and he really battled with it against Glasgow Warriors at the weekend, so he’ll have a scan back in Port Elizabeth.”