Kings have least penalties in PRO14

While the Guinness PRO14 log continues to make unpleasant reading for the winless Isuzu Southern Kings, they have managed to win two important statistical battles.

Despite being bottom of Conference B, the Kings are the most profitable side in the league when it comes to the line-out, and they have also conceded the least penalties of all the teams.

Coach Robbi Kempson’s side now possess an impressive lineout success rate of 96.15%, losing an average of just 0.7 per game.

That has been largely down to the collective work of J C Astle, Aston Fortuin and Ruan Lerm, who have won a considerable total of 27 throws between them.

Their strength at the line-out is something the Kings will be hoping boosts their efforts to get a first win behind their name.

Last year discipline was the achilles heel of the Kings, who did not see eye-to-eye with referees as cards and penalties mounted against them.

Under a new coaching regime, the Kings have shown a marked improvement when it comes to discipline and have conceded the fewest penalties, at an average of just seven a game.

However, other areas of the Kings’ game are letting them down.

They are missing almost one in five tackles (success rate of 81.52%), a figure that makes their tackling record the third worst in the PRO14 so far.

When the Kings were beaten 42-17 by Ulster in their last game, they only conceded three penalties compared to the 16 awarded against the Irish side.

After losing home matches against Cardiff Blues, Munster and Ulster the Kings are not in action this weekend. The next Kings game is against Benetton at Stadio Monigo in Treviso in Italy on October 26.

That will be followed by away fixtures against Glasgow Warriors in Scotland on November 1 and the Ospreys in Wales on November 9.