Kings hope to take Bulls by horns
Shifts training camp to the high altitude
IN ORDER to give themselves the best chance of beating the Bulls in Pretoria on Saturday the Southern Kings have decided to do their pre-match preparation up north this week.
After their arrival back in Johannesburg from Argentina yesterday, the Kings have decided against flying home to Port Elizabeth.
Instead they will set up camp at Sun City to prepare for what is expected to be a massive Super Rugby showdown at Loftus Versfeld.
After winning four of their past six games, the Kings are determined to end the season with a bang in their final outings against the Bulls and Cheetahs.
“We are going to prepare up there and will ask some more players to join us from Port Elizabeth for training,” Kings head coach Deon Davids said.
“We will go full-out for the last games to get good results and that is our main focus.
“The Kings are not going to stand back for any of the teams in the last games and we know it is going to ask a lot of us going to Argentina and then coming back and playing against the Bulls, who I think are on a upward curve,” Davids had said ahead of last week’s clash against Jaguares.
“Then we have our last game against the Cheetahs, who are also a settled team, so it will be three huge challenges.
“That is what Super Rugby is about and we have faced it the whole year.
“If we approach these games with the same attitude as we have done throughout the season, we can be competitive.”
Confidence is high in the Kings camp after they scored a 31-30 win over the Jaguares in Buenos Aires at the weekend.
It was a stunning turnaround for the revitalised Kings who were on the receiving end of the 73-27 hiding when they played at the Estadio Jose Amalfitani Stadium last year.
Kings speedster Makazole Mapimpi crossed the line twice while Luzuko Vulindlu and Wandile Mjekevu also scored tries.
Cool-headed captain Lionel Cronje contributed 11 points with the boot.
Kings risk being booted out of Super Rugby at the end of the season when the competition is cut from 18 to 15 teams.
Thanks to their five victories this season, the Kings now boast a healthy tally of 23 points from 13 games.
The Kings could be without lock Wilhelm van der Sluys for the Bulls clash after he sustained concussion against the Jaguares.
It is expected that Giant Mtyanda, who replaced Van der Sluys in Buenos Aires, will pack down against the Bulls.
Last week Warrick Gelant scored a hat-trick of tries as the Bulls claimed a deserved 30-17 win over the Sharks in an entertaining clash in Durban.
It was a big win for the Bulls because it was their first away victory of the season and only their fourth from 13 Super Rugby matches this season.
“We wore our hearts on our sleeves,” said Bulls skipper and hooker Adriaan Strauss after the three-time champions ended a run of six consecutive away losses this season.
“There were mistakes from us, but they resulted from overeagerness more than anything else.
“Our younger players did extremely well and showed passion.”