Pivac says shaky defence is Kings Waterloo
THE Southern Kings must work on battening down their leaky defensive hatches if they want to secure a first Pro14 victory, Scarlets coach Wayne Pivac said.
In their past two matches against Ulster and Scarlets, the Kings have come tantalisingly close to victory, but have on each occasion come off second best in high-scoring clashes.
On Friday the Kings’ defence will face another stern test against an Edinburgh side who have won five of their opening nine games.
When the Kings faced the Scarlets on the opening day of the season in September, they crashed to a heavy 57-10 defeat in Llanelli.
In the return game in Port Elizabeth on Sunday, they pushed an under-strength Welsh side all the way, before going down 34-30 after a ding-dong battle.
“I have definitely seen some growth in the Kings side,” said Pivac.
“I thought they played well against Ulster and they took their opportunities very well. They did the same against us and with a little bit of work on their defence, they are going to get that result they are looking for.
“That result will probably come sooner rather than later. We expected to face a spirited and attack focused game from the Kings and they did not disappoint.
“They carved us up a few times with some excellent running and support play and their off-loading was exceptional. We did not take care of the Kings’ support runners and they hurt us.”
Scarlets, who brought a weakened team to South Africa, because 15 of their senior players are on international duty, play the second game of their South African tour against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
“After falling 23-10 behind just after halftime against the Kings we had to dig deep. I was very pleased that, with so many players out, we could get a bonus point win,” the coach said.
“It was the perfect result, but not the perfect performance. We knew it would be a tough game with so many of our players out and facing Kings players we did not know.”
Like Pivac, Kings coach Deon Davids said he has seen growth in his team since their opening day defeat against Scarlets.
“Overall I can see the growth in the team from where we were,” said Davids.
“I think Martin du Toit at number 12 was good for us on attack, and Martinus Burger at seven made some good carries and played well.
“That is what you want to see. Growth in your squad in the areas we want to improve on. As long as we can tick those boxes and make sure we are going in the right direction.
“If we sit and focus too much on not getting a win up till now, then I think our focus would be wrong. I think it will come as long as we keep on growing and working to get rid of the bad habits and replace them with good ones,” said Davids.
The Kings will name their team to face Edinburgh today.