Kings aim for jugular against powerful Bulls
DETERMINED EP Kings coach Brent Janse van Rensburg wants his team to go for the jugular when they face the Blue Bulls in a Currie Cup clash in Pretoria tonight.
“I want to see the guys fight and stand up for something and really go for the jugular and put the best performance together that we possibly can,” said Janse van Rensburg.
“Let’s be competitive and go for the win. That is certainly our aim in every game we play. They are a good Bulls team and they are not right up at the top of the log mixing it with the best teams for nothing.”
Janse van Rensburg says his team must be disciplined and curb the Bulls lineout and stop their momentum.
“If we are not disciplined they will kick the ball to the touchline and they will play off the lineout which they like,” said Janse van Rensburg.
“We need to minimise the Bulls’ lineout opportunities and stop their momentum at the lineout off their mauls so they don’t get yardage there.
“In the collision we need to put shoulders in and make sure we don’t give them go forward ball there.
“The Bulls have scored 48% of their tries from lineouts. About 70% of those tries have been within the first three phases of the lineout. They have mauled 50% of all the ball they had in the lineout this competition.
“There are areas of their play we are focused on and how we want to exploit them. We have worked on our recipe on what they are bringing,” said Janse van Rensburg.
“Our main problem was our work ethic when we beat Griquas and we can rectify that this week because it is a big thing for us. We can improve our work ethic,” Kings captain Tim Whitehead said.
Whitehead (two), Paul Schoeman (two) and flying wing Luther Obi were the tryscorers when the Kings beat Griquas.
Bulls captain Lappies Labuschagne said: “We need two very good performances to host the semifinal, so if we slip up, this will be our last home game.
“We owe our supporters more than that. We trained well and with purpose, so we should be very competitive.”
After eight rounds the Kings are second from bottom on the log and want to end the season on a high in their remaining games against the Bulls and Western Province.
With the Southern Kings playing their opening Super Rugby match against the Sharks in Port Elizabeth on February 27, the fringe EP players will be keen to make an impression in the final rounds.
EP Rugby boss Cheeky Watson has said there could be as many as six new signings in the offseason. This will result in stiff competition for berths in the Southern Kings Super Rugby side. Tonight’s teams: EP Kings: Scott van Breda; Sylvian Mahuza, J P du Plessis, Tim Whitehead (capt), Luther Obi; Elgar Watts, Enrico Acker; Jacques Engelbrecht, Stefan Willemse, Thembelani Bholi, Cornell Hess, Steven Sykes, Tom Botha, Martin Ferreira, Lizo Gqoboka. Reserves: Edgar Marutlulle, Schalk Ferreira, Simon Kerrod, Paul Schoeman, Tim Agaba, Dwayne Kelly, Karlo Aspeling.
Blue Bulls: Warrick Gelant; Travis Ismaiel, Dries Swanepoel, Burger Odendaal, Jamba Ulengo; Tian Schoeman, Francois Hougaard; Arno Botha, Lappies Labuschagne (capt), Deon Stegmann, R G Snyman, Jacques du Plessis, Marcel van der Merwe, Bandise Maku, Pierre Schoeman. Reserves: Corniel Els, Werner Kruger, Marvin Orie, Ruan Steenkamp, Ivan van Zyl, Louis Fouché, William Small Smith.
Kick-off: 7.10pm.