Kings surprise opposition
THOUGH it was a dagger to his heart when Sharks fullback Curwin Bosch nailed a monster late penalty to clinch the match, Southern Kings head coach Deon Davids said he was proud of the way his team stepped up their game.
The Kings arrived in Durban having never beaten South African opposition in Super Rugby and with 10 minutes left for play they were shock 17-16 leaders against the Sharks.
But they were denied victory when Bosch, a former Grey High pupil, nailed a 52m penalty after 71 minutes to hand the Sharks a narrow 19-17 win.
There was a chance for the Kings to snatch victory at the death, but flyhalf Lionel Cronje failed with a long range penalty.
“I am very proud of the boys’ effort and I think they made a huge step up in certain areas of the game,” Davids said.
“I think they were very good defensively in the first half and that continued in the second half to stop the momentum of the Sharks.
“Our scrums were a bit under pressure at the start, but the guys recovered well. We had some opportunities which we did not capitalise on and those are things that we need to improve on.
“I think one area we definitely have to work on is our discipline. The Kings conceded too many penalties and that kept the Sharks in the game.
“Also our tactical kicking was not as good as it can be. That allowed the Sharks to stay in our half. We lost a bit of control and territory and we were not playing in the right areas.
“We will just continue to try and improve every week and the Kings are looking forward to the next challenge,” Davids said.
The try scorers for the Kings were Ruaan Lerm and Makazole Mapimpi.
Ahead of the game the Kings coach had called on his team to up their effort against their more fancied opponents and they responded with a whole-hearted display. Davids said it was tough playing in Durban. In 2013 the Sharks took huge chunks out of the Kings when they cruised to a 58-13 win, and last year the men from Port Elizabeth were on the receiving end of a 53-0 mauling.
On Saturday the Lions visit Port Elizabeth and they are unlikely to leave key players behind in Johannesburg after watching how close the Kings came to snatching victory against the Sharks. Scorers: Sharks 19: Tries: Lourens Adriaanse, Kobus van Wyk. Penalties: Curwin Bosch (3)
Southern Kings: 17: Tries: Ruaan Lerm, Makazole Mapimpi. Conversions: Lionel Cronje (2). Penalty: Cronje