Kings mull over shortcomings

WILY Southern Kings head coach Deon Davids said his team must work harder at keeping one step ahead of the opposition after they slumped to a 19-10 defeat against the Brumbies.

The Kings were tripped up at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium by a street-wise Australian outfit, who outscored the home team by three tries to one.

In their previous three games the Kings had scored stunning wins over the Waratahs, Rebels and Sharks.

“If you start winning games the other teams analyse you in a smarter way, so you have to work harder to stay that one step ahead,” Davids said.

“That will be our challenge going into the next few games, where we will face tough opposition. There are great opportunities that lie ahead for the Kings.

“I think as a team we can only get better in terms of how we execute. There will be excellent experiences that the team will gather from these challenges.

“Congratulations to the Brumbies, and I think they played some smart rugby.

“Obviously we feel disappointed about the loss and we feel we had ample opportunities to win the game, but we did not use them.

“I think the Brumbies played tactically very well and they played almost 80% of the game in our half.

“We also made it difficult for ourselves at the breakdown, to keep our continuity, and they slowed us down in terms of being clever in keeping the ball in their hands, and not giving the ball back to us.

“So, if you look at that, there are ample opportunities for us to learn from that.

“The Kings are a young side with talented individuals, but they were also put under pressure.

“It was a learning experience for them, and we set ourselves very high standards.

“We are we going to sit down and assess the challenges we faced against the Brumbies – and how we can improve.”