Kings have spring in their step after win
Upbeat coach says his men will now build on their first Pro14 triumph
There will be no time for the victorious Isuzu Southern Kings to take a breather after their stunning upset win over top Scottish outfit Glasgow Warriors.
The resurgent Kings fly to Wales on Tuesday for Saturday’s match against Scarlets in Llanelli in round five of the Guinness Pro14.
After the Scarlets clash they head to Italy to face Bennetton Treviso at the Stadio Comunale di Monigo on October 6.
“We will take it game by game and there will be challenges on a tough tour programme,” Kings head coach Deon Davids said.
“Because we fly out of South Africa on Tuesday we will only have one training session before we face Scarlets. We need to ensure that everything is planned very carefully on and off the field.
“We got this win over Glasgow early in the season and the team want to build on it. We can keep on looking forward to putting in another performance like this.
“The Kings will now believe that they can get results on this tour to Wales and Italy.
“If you would have asked me a few weeks ago what our chances would be against Glasgow, I would have not have guessed that this would have happened against one of the best teams in the competition. This was a big result.”
There were five tries for the Kings, who delivered an inspiring display to pull off their first win in the Pro14 after four starts.
Martin du Toit (2), Yaw Penxe, Rudi van Rooyen, Harlon Klassen all crossed for tries while fullback Masixole Banda kicked five conversions and a penalty.
After being slow out of the starting blocks in previous matches, the Kings made a tearaway start against the Scottish outfit and held a commanding 24-0 lead at halftime.
“I had two fingers crossed for a good start and that gave the guys a lot of belief,” said Davids.
The coach has sounded a note of caution, warning his players that opposing teams will be gunning for the Kings now.
“Teams will come for us and my players must be ready for the challenge.”
Glasgow coach Dave Rennie admitted he had been surprised by the result.
“They out-enthused us, they out-worked us,” Rennie said after his team’s defeat at the Nelson Mandela Bay Madibaz Stadium.
“We didn’t defend well enough or work hard enough defensively. We didn’t treasure the ball and we know they can hurt you when you do that.
“We lost all the key races. In the end we found ourselves a helluva long way back.”
Thanks to their win the Kings moved off the bottom of the Conference B standings. They now have seven points from four outings, which is a point more than bottom-placed Edinburgh.
I had two fingers crossed for a good start and that gave the guys a lot of belief