Australia face-off for Kings
Rejuvenated Waratahs among five opponents from Down Under
WHEN the Southern Kings face the Waratahs in Sydney on their Australian tour in April they will be confronted by a new-look team who feel they will be a force to be reckoned with in Super Rugby.
This season, five of the Southern Kings’ 15 Super Rugby matches will be against Australian opposition, with three being played in Australia and two in Port Elizabeth.
On their Australian tour, in the first half of the season, they will play the Western Force in Perth, the Reds in Brisbane and the Waratahs in Sydney.
Later in the campaign, the Kings will host the Rebels and Brumbies in Port Elizabeth.
Last year, the Kings did not play any Australian teams, but faced teams in the New Zealand conference.
The Waratahs are confident the growing pains experienced in last year’s Super Rugby season will lead to sustained success this season.
Last year, the squad looked vastly different from the one that won the competition in 2014, with a number of young players making their debuts through the season.
A new-look front row could be the difference for the Waratahs this time, with Sekope Kepu and Damien Fitzpatrick returning from stints with Bordeaux and Lyon.
The team are hoping those youngsters will find their feet this year and help propel the Waratahs back to the finals.
The Waratahs are looking for youngsters like Jed Holloway to step up.
“It’s a great period for us as coaches to put a lot of time into those guys, both from a tactical and technical point of view and on top of that for a lot of them around leadership growth,” Waratahs forwards coach Cam Blades said.
“We’re obviously seeing guys like Jed and a few of the other guys really take on leadership roles.
“They’re our future as well, so we need to make sure we’re not just focusing on the guys that are already there in that space.
“We’ve always got to be looking at the guys that are coming through and developing them.
“You obviously can never cover world-class players leaving, like Ben Robinson and Tatafu PolotaNau, but to be fair, Ben didn’t really play much of last season at all through injury and obviously then through retirement.
“So it gave us a good opportunity to blood some young guys.
“I think they all, as the season went on, grew and grew and some grew into Wallabies like Tom Robertson and others like Tolu Latu.
“So I’m really excited about the prospect of our growth this year. Obviously we got off to a pretty slow start last year off the back of some of that inexperience, but hopefully this year we’ll take a big step forward on that front.”
Bernard Foley was impressed with the work that the squad has put in throughout the pre-season and is looking forward to seeing the team build on last year.
“Michael [Hooper] had his first year of captaincy last year so he’s really excited and knows how to approach the start of this year. But where we’re going to add the most is in those guys who made their debuts last year, who are really class players, they’re going to reach their potential this year,” Foley said.
“Guys like Jed Holloway, Jack Dempsey, even Andrew Kellaway, those are the guys who I can see really showing and flourishing this year and the potential they have to influence this squad and to fill those leadership voids is something that should be exciting and that we’re looking forward to.”