KINGS COACH HAILS TEAM FOR STEPPING UP GAME
Coach hails team for stepping up game despite narrow loss
ALTHOUGH it was a dagger to the heart when Sharks fullback Curwin Bosch nailed a monster late penalty to clinch the match, Southern Kings head coach Deon Davids said he was proud of the way his team stepped up their game.
The Kings arrived in Durban having never beaten South African opposition in Super Rugby and with 10 minutes left they were shock 17-16 leaders against the Sharks.
But they were denied victory when Bosch, a former Grey High pupil, nailed a 52m penalty after 71 minutes to hand the Sharks a narrow 19-17 win.
There was a chance for the Kings to snatch victory at the death, but flyhalf Lionel Cronje failed with a long-range penalty.
“I am very proud of the boys’ effort and I think they made a huge step up in certain areas of the game,” Davids said.
“I think they were very good defensively in the first half and that continued in the second half to stop the momentum of the Sharks.
“Our scrums were a bit under pressure at the start, but the guys recovered well. We had some opportunities which we did not capitalise on and those are things that we need to improve on.
“I think one area we definitely have to work on is our discipline. The Kings conceded too many penalties and that kept the Sharks in the game.
“Also our tactical kicking was not as good as it can be – that allowed the Sharks to stay in our half. We lost a bit of control and territory and we were not playing in the right areas.
“But we have a lot of positives to work on. We will just continue to try and improve every week and the Kings are looking forward to the next challenge.”
The try scorers for the Kings were the irrepressible Ruan Lerm and energetic Makazole Mapimpi.
Ahead of the game, the Kings coach had called on his team to up their effort against their more fancied opponents and they responded with a wholehearted display.
Davids said it was always tough playing in Durban and previous Super Rugby results between the sides suggested the Sharks would emerge winners.
In 2013, the Sharks took huge chunks out of the Kings when they cruised to a 58-13 win, and last year the men from Port Elizabeth were on the receiving end of a 53-0 mauling.
The closeness of the match could well signal the end of teams resting frontline players when they play the Kings.
On Saturday, the Lions visit Port Elizabeth and they are unlikely to leave key players behind in Johannesburg after watching how close the Kings came to snatching victory against the Sharks.
Former Springbok flyhalf Naas Botha said it had been a disappointing showing by the Sharks.
“It was disappointing because after last week against the Waratahs we thought that the Sharks were really settled and they would come with a strong performance,” Botha said.
“But it was like they were a little bit rattled by the way the Kings came on at the breakdown and irritated them. They did not get ball on the front foot or clean ball.”
Scorers: Sharks 19: Tries: Lourens Adriaanse, Kobus van Wyk. Penalties: Curwin Bosch (3). Southern Kings: 17: Tries: Ruaan Lerm, Makazole Mapimpi. Conversions: Lionel Cronje (2). Penalty: Cronje.