Players not good enough to win

I am so sick and tired of reading in the letters section of readers calling for Deon Davids, head coach of the Kings PRO14 team, to be fired or to resign.

These so-called “knowledgeable” rugby idiots have no idea what they are talking about.

The reason for the Kings not winning is simply that the players are not good enough and are not skilled enough to compete with teams who have copious numbers of current international players in their teams.

Name one player in the Kings squad who is good enough to become a Super Rugby player or Springbok. There are none.

Many players who have left the Kings due to administrative and monetary instability have been recruited by the socalled bigger provinces and some have become Springboks (Makazole Mapimpi, Curwin Bosch and Louis Schreuder), while others are household names in Super Rugby or overseas (Shane Gates and Chris Cloete).

If any player in the current Kings PRO4 squad was good enough to play Super Rugby, he would be snapped up by the Super Rugby provinces who have the money to pull top players.

It says volumes for Davids’s ability as a coach that he was in the final three to be appointed to coach the Bulls in Super Rugby in 2019.

He also coached many who have left for greener pastures.

The Cheetahs are doing well as they have mostly hardcore experienced Super Rugby players and Springboks in their team.

The Kings do not have either.

The light at the end of this long tunnel is finally here, where the Kings, and their sponsors and investors will attract top-notch professional rugby players, who will take the PRO4 by storm in two years’ time, and will hopefully still be coached by Davids. Gordon Upton, proud Kings and Deon Davids supporter

Port Elizabeth