Waratahs win start of new trend – Cronje
BUOYANT captain Lionel Cronje has promised fans that the Southern Kings will win plenty more games before the end of the Super Rugby season.
Cronje made his prediction after the Kings scored a stunning win over the Waratahs in Sydney last week which has ignited the season of the Eastern Cape franchise.
“From here on it will only be an upward curve and this is not going to be our last win. We will win plenty more games before the end of this competition. I can guarantee you that,” Cronje said.
“The win over the Waratahs is true testament to the character of the team and these men who have stood up to these challenges. The team stood up in adversity.”
“It has been an emotional three weeks for us to get the news while we were on tour [about Super Rugby being cut from 18 to 15 teams]. This puts pressure not only on the players and coaches, but also the administrators and families, with three months left in the competition.”
The Kings will be aiming for their third win of the season when they face the Melbourne Rebels at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday.
“There are so many good players who have come out of the Eastern Cape who are playing professional rugby at other unions,” Cronje said.
“Players like Siya Kolisi, Scarra Ntubeni, Curwin Bosch, Paul Jordaan, the Ndungane brothers [Odwa and Okona] and Jan Serfontein to mention just a few. There are plenty more out there.
“They have been nurtured in the Eastern Cape and some are playing Springbok rugby or top-flight rugby elsewhere.
“The amount of talent this group of current Kings players has shown is phenomenal.”
Cronje and his players were among a crowd of 10 000 fans at the Wolfson Stadium on Sunday when the EP Kings were beaten 30-18 by Western Province in the new SuperSport Challenge Cup.
WP coach John Dobson said playing in the incredible atmosphere at the Wolfson Stadium, after the Kings’ momentous result against the Waratahs on Friday, perhaps gave some clues to the powers-that-be in rugby about the way forward for the sport.
Cronje said: “We set high standards for ourselves. We felt we have been competitive and feel we could have got away with a few more wins this season.
“We needed this win over the Waratahs and I think it will kick-start the confidence for us to be able to take to it through for the rest of the competition and hopefully keep building on it.”
Saturday’s fixture will be the Rebels’ first match against the Kings in Port Elizabeth.
The Kings claimed a thrilling 30-27 victory over the Rebels in the two sides’ only previous meeting in 2013, at AAMI Park.
The Rebels picked up their sixth point in two games with a hard fought 9-9 draw with the Sharks in Durban on Saturday night – the first draw in the club’s history.
Kings team doctor Konrad von Hagen said yesterday there were no new injury concerns in the squad ahead of Saturday’s clash.