Kings need to improve defence against Italians
WITH tries racking up against his team at an alarming rate, Southern Kings coach Deon Davids knows his team must slam the back door shut against Italian rugby club Benetton Treviso on Saturday.
Winless and pointless after five outings in the PRO14 tournament, the Southern Kings have leaked 27 tries as they struggle to find their feet in the European league.
With a massive 192 points scored against them already, the Port Elizabeth-based Kings will need to have an urgent relook at their defensive strategy, ahead of what will be another challenging outing at the Stadio Comunale di Monigo.
Benetton have two wins under their belt and will fancy their chances of picking up maximum points against a struggling Kings side, who have only managed to score seven five pointers.
While the Kings were on the receiving end of a 29-13 defeat against the Newport Gwent Dragons, Benetton slipped to a 37-21 loss against the Glasgow Warriors in their last outing.
Despite their two wins, Benetton are second from the bottom in Conference B, after five rounds.
For the game against the Dragons, Godlen Masimla took over at scrumhalf from an injured Rudi van Rooyen, while Rowan Gouws was included as the No 9 replacement on the bench.
Following the defeat against the Dragons, the Southern Kings medical staff said Van Rooyen could be back in contention for a place in the squad to face Benetton.
There were no major injuries for the Kings after Saturday’s game.
Skipper Michael Willemse suffered a hyper extended elbow, but the soft-tissue injury is expected to have healed before Saturday.
Van Rooyen is doing well after he sustained a knee injury during the match against Zebre, and is expected to be back on the training pitch in Italy this week and could be a contender for Saturday’s squad.
After their match against Benneton, the Kings return to the UK for a match against the Glasgow Warriors in Scotland.
Glasgow are the Conference A group leaders, with five wins out of five – a flying start for the Scots.