Storm not over for Kings and Cheetahs
Defeated teams seek to regain ground in Saturday’s clash
AFTER being pummelled by a hailstorm during their 37-7 defeat against Edinburgh, the battling Southern Kings can expect a storm of a different nature in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.
This time they will have to deal with the threat posed by the Cheetahs in the first of three South African PRO14 derby clashes against the Bloemfontein-based side.
After slumping to a 27-21 defeat to Benetton Treviso in Italy on Saturday, the Cheetahs will be desperate for a victory to keep their play-off hopes alive.
Friday’s defeat in Edinburgh was the Kings’ 11th consecutive loss and has left them marooned at the bottom of the PRO14 log.
It was the first time that the Kings had been in action for more than a month since a 48-21 defeat against the same opposition in Port Elizabeth on December 1.
The Kings were outscored by five tries to one by Edinburgh and will have much to work at on the training pitch before their next outing at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in just five days.
It was another frustrating night for the Kings, who faded away after holding Edinburgh at bay in the opening 22 minutes in front of a small crowd of 2 500 at Myreside Stadium.
Kings head coach Deon Davids paid tribute to Edinburgh saying they were “a quality side” who converted every small opportunity they got into points and that this was something the Kings would try to learn from.
Edinburgh head coach Richard Cockerill said: “It was a good, workmanlike win. Thankfully we are starting to get to the position [where] we are expecting those kind of performances.
“I’m pleased with the effort. Conditions were horrible. Happy to get five tries and five points that are good for us heading into bigger games.
“The Kings were tough for probably 25 minutes, we were a little bit sloppy in giving away penalties, but we got into our stride and in the end it was a job well done.
“We should expect to win these games and put out a professional performance and we did that.
“Five tries on a really difficult night is nice to see. We played with good intent; we’re still making some errors and I’d like us to make better decisions when we make those line breaks, especially in difficult conditions.
“It was good to get our centre Mark Bennett out on the field.
“Apart from the two or three balls he dropped, he did a good job! No excuses, he’s an international centre.
“He was desperate to play the last couple of weeks and I held him back because I didn’t feel it was right for him to play.
“He showed some good touches and in an 80-minute stint, no problems with his injury issues and I thought he did very, very well.”
Edinburgh’s Grant Gilchrist scored the first try of the game, before Blair Kinghorn grounded Chris Dean’s grubber kick to score first-half tries for Edinburgh.
South African Duhan van der Merwe raced home for a five-pointer after the break, with Cammy Fenton adding a fourth score from a driving maul.
Ntabeni Dukisa bagged a consolation try for the Kings at the death, but Dougie Fife touched down in the final minute to complete a satisfying night for the Scotsmen.
Edinburgh gave away six penalties in the first 15 minutes, an illustration of how stop-start the match was in the beginning.
Scotland centre Bennett enjoyed a quiet return to action, making his Edinburgh debut almost a year after suffering a knee injury in last season’s Calcutta Cup match.