Kings look forward to capacity crowd for George game
IT will be a home away from home for his team when they play Irish outfit Munster at Outeniqua Park Stadium in George on Saturday, Southern Kings head coach Davids said.
This will be the first time that the Kings have played a home match away from their base in Port Elizabeth and a capacity 7 500 crowd is expected.
If a sold-out crowd materialises, it will be the Kings’ biggest crowd of the season, beating the attendance of 6 711 that watched their match against the Cheetahs at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.
“George is always a very nice place to play rugby. Outeniqua Park has a special environment and people in George love rugby,” Davids said.
“A club game will be played as a curtain-raiser and I think people will turn up in their numbers to see the Irish internationals playing.
“I am looking forward to playing there.”
To give themselves the best chance of beating both the Southern Kings and the Cheetahs on their South African tour, Munster have based themselves in Cape Town.
The Irish outfit will depart by bus today for the five-hour drive to George, where they will play the Kings on Saturday evening at the Outeniqua Stadium.
They will travel back by road to Cape Town on Sunday and base themselves there until Thursday, when they will depart to Bloemfontein to take on the Cheetahs on Friday week for a key Con- ference A clash.
On their return to Europe, Munster have a blockbuster European Champions Cup semifinal showdown against Racing 92 in Bordeaux on April 21.
Munster added two players for the trip to South Africa, bringing their squad up to 30 with the addition of loose forward Stephen Fitzgerald and scrumhalf Jack Stafford.
They brought the entire 23-man squad who beat Toulon 20-19, with Brian Scott, Dave O’Callaghan, Conor Oliver, Dan Goggin and academy player Calvin Nash added to the travelling party.
Munster’s most experienced player, Billy Holland, told the Irish Examiner that the tour was an excellent opportunity to focus ahead of the business end of the season.
“It is really exciting. This squad hasn’t gone on many tours in the last few seasons for many reasons,” Holland said.
“You get to know fellas better on tour and [build] even better relationships. It’s a unique part of the world and to be heading to team- mate CJ Stander’s hometown George for the game, so that is something to really look forward to.”
Some of the squad have played in South Africa before and for Holland this is his first time back in the country since featuring for the Irish U19 side almost 15 years ago.
The Munster squad: Simon Zebo, Andrew Conway, Alex Wootton, Darren Sweetnam, Calvin Nash, Sammy Arnold, Rory Scannell, Dan Goggin, Ian Keatley, JJ Hanrahan, Conor Murray, James Hart, Dave Kilcoyne, James Cronin, Stephen Archer, John Ryan, Brian Scott, Rhys Marshall, Niall Scannell, Billy Holland, Jean Kleyn, Gerbrandt Grobler, Peter O’Mahony, Jack O’ Donoghue, Dave O’Callaghan, Conor Oliver, Robin Copeland, CJ Stander, Stephen Fitzgeral, Jack Stafford.