Waratahs plan to jack up their defence

Kings eager to end Australian tour with some glory

WARATAHS coach Daryl Gibson wants his team to shore up their leaky defence when they face the Southern Kings in a Super Rugby clash in Sydney on Friday (kick-off 11.45am).

Gibson knows his team will have to be vigilant against a Kings team who have scored 11 tries in their previous two matches against the Western Force and Reds.

Beaten in both those games, the Kings will be desperate to salvage something from their Australian tour against the Waratahs.

Like the Waratahs, the Kings have defensive problems of their own and have leaked 13 tries in their past two games and this will be of concern to head coach Deon Davids.

The Waratahs, tournament winners in 2014, are languishing in fourth spot in the five-team Australian conference on eight competition points, having won just two of their seven games this season.

Their only victories have come against fellow Australian sides the Western Force and Melbourne Rebels, who are also struggling, while they conceded almost 34 points per match.

“Those inconsistencies and vulnerabilities in our game is something we want to work out and learn from,” said Gibson.

“We need to fix up our defensive qualities.”

That lack of defensive starch was most evident in their last game against the Hurricanes with the 2016 champions running in five tries and establishing a 33-7 lead in the first half. A combination of the Hurricanes temporarily losing track of what they were supposed to be doing and the Waratahs finally switching on ensured the Sydney-based side fought back in the second half before losing 38-28.

At times during that game they ran the Hurricanes off Wellington Regional Stadium.

Their attacking prowess from deep was most evident with fullback Bryce Hegarty threatening every time his team were able to hold onto the ball and spread it wide.

“At different periods we’ve showed we can be a very good football team,” said Gibson.

Gibson, however, said the closeness of the Australian conference meant that a victory over the Port Elizabeth-based Kings would put them back in contention for the playoffs.

After their match against the Waratahs, the Kings return to Port Elizabeth to play the Melbourne Rebels at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on April 29.

The Kings have only won one of their opening seven matches and are expected to get the axe when Super Rugby is trimmed from 18 to 15 teams next year. The other teams in the firing line are the Cheetahs and the Western Force.

SA Rugby have decided that the decision on which two of the six South African franchises will be axed will be made according to certain criteria.

The agreed headline criteria, which have been weighted, are: financial and economic sustainability; sustainable support base; team performance; and stadium and facilities. These criteria were further broken down into sub-criteria and measurement mechanisms for each of these were also set and agreed upon.

A decision on which South African teams will be axed is expected to be made before the end of June. – Additional reporting AFP