IT WASN’T

quite the start that league officials would have hoped for. The two South African teams who have joined the Pro14 — Southern Kings and the Cheetahs — shipped 99 points between them on their opening forays into the Celtic-Italian competition. Give it time. They will be different beasts in their own territory and conditions. Trips to Llanelli and Belfast, to face the champion Scarlets and Ulster, represented a brutal introduction after hasty preparations. Meanwhile, in Cardiff, Richard Cockerill’s Edinburgh regime began with a first away win over the Blues since 2012. He was destined to raise standards — and it has started.