There will be a brutal battle for precious log points when Super Rugby’s worst performing teams clash at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium this afternoon (kickoff 5:05pm).
Coach Deon Davids has made two changes to his starting line-up to face the Sunwolves.
Aidon Davis returns at No8 after an injury layoff and Siyanda Grey comes in on the left wing in the place of Luzuko Vulindlu.
“Aidon is coming back from an injury and he has been working really hard on his conditioning and we are quite excited to get him back and on track for the campaign going forward.
“Unfortunately Luzuko Vulindlu has concussion, but we are happy to have Siyanda Grey back. Siyanda has been working hard and he is excited and ready to go,” Davids said.
The stakes will be sky high for the Southern Kings and Sunwolves in a match neither can afford to lose if they want to avoid finishing the day at the bottom of the log.
Both teams are winless after four matches and the Sunwolves are marginally above the Kings thanks to the two early bonus points they have managed to pocket.
“There was progress for us from the Crusaders game into the Hurricanes and there were a lot of positives that could be taken out of that,” Kings coach Deon Davids said.
“But there is a still a lot of work that we need to do and our main aim in this game is to tick those extra boxes in stuff that we can still improve on. I believe that if we can do that, together with the things that went right last week, the scoreboard will look after itself.
“Obviously for us our defence is a key component where we want to improve on in terms of our system and our one-on-one tackling.
“We definitely have to shut down their space and time this week.”
Davids said a big emphasis would be placed on getting go-forward ball against the Japanese side.
“One of our biggest Achilles heels in our previous games was our lack of getting go-forward momentum. I think in the last game against the Hurricanes we succeeded in getting go-forward ball when we decided to use Stefan Watermeyer, Stefan Willemse and Edgar Marutlulle. In my opinion they did excellent work in terms of that,” Davids said.
“If you can play from the front foot the rest of the stuff falls into place. This week are are really focused on our shape on attack and to get quicker into position,” Davids said.
Kings captain Steven Sykes said his team would have to be on their toes in the lineouts and against the inventive Sunwolves forwards.
“I think they have exciting starter moves and peels around the front and the back and specially the one through the middle. Hopefully they do try it again this week because we did train to defend that,” Sykes said.
“But I reckon they will bring something completely different and we will have to be awake around the set pieces and make sure we look after all their stuff.”
Some key match stats:
1: The Kings have conceded 157 points combined in their last three matches against teams from outside of South Africa.
2: This will be the Sunwolves first ever match away from home turf in Super Rugby.
3: Both of the Kings’ two wins at home in Super Rugby history have come against teams from outside of South Africa (Force and Highlanders).
4: The Sunwolves have conceded eight tries on the opening phase of opposition possession, only the Kings (nine) have conceded more.
5: Tusi Pisi kicks at an accuracy of 94%, the highest of any player who’s attempted at least 15 shots at goal so far this season.
Southern Kings: Jurgen Visser, Siyanda Grey, Stefan Watermeyer, Shane Gates, Malcolm Jaer, Louis Fouche, Ntando Kebe, Aidon Davis, Stefan Willemse, CJ Velleman, JC Astle, Steven Sykes (capt), Jacobie Adriaanse, Edgar Marutlulle, Sti Sithole. Replacements: Martin Ferreira, Schalk Ferreira, Tom Botha, Schalk Oelofse, Chris Cloete, Kevin Luiters, Elgar Watts, Jaco van Tonder.
Sunwolves: Riaan Viljoen, Viliami Lolohea, Harumichi Tatekawa, Yu Tamura, Akihito Yamada, Tusi Pisi, Kaito Shigeno, Ed Quirk, Andrew Durutalo, Liaki Moli, Timothy Bond, Hitoshi Ono, Shinnosuke Kakinaga, Shota Horie (captain), Keita Inagaki. Replacements: Futoshi Mori, Masataka Mikami, Takuma Asahara, Shinya Makabe, Yoshiya Hosoda, Tomas Leonardi, Yuki Yatomi, Mifiposeti Paea.
Referee: Rasta Rasivhenge.
Pride at stake for strugglers
Coach Deon Davids has made two changes to his starting line-up to face the Sunwolves.
Aidon Davis returns at No8 after an injury layoff and Siyanda Grey comes in on the left wing in the place of Luzuko Vulindlu.
“Aidon is coming back from an injury and he has been working really hard on his conditioning and we are quite excited to get him back and on track for the campaign going forward.
“Unfortunately Luzuko Vulindlu has concussion, but we are happy to have Siyanda Grey back. Siyanda has been working hard and he is excited and ready to go,” Davids said.
The stakes will be sky high for the Southern Kings and Sunwolves in a match neither can afford to lose if they want to avoid finishing the day at the bottom of the log.
Both teams are winless after four matches and the Sunwolves are marginally above the Kings thanks to the two early bonus points they have managed to pocket.
“There was progress for us from the Crusaders game into the Hurricanes and there were a lot of positives that could be taken out of that,” Kings coach Deon Davids said.
“But there is a still a lot of work that we need to do and our main aim in this game is to tick those extra boxes in stuff that we can still improve on. I believe that if we can do that, together with the things that went right last week, the scoreboard will look after itself.
“Obviously for us our defence is a key component where we want to improve on in terms of our system and our one-on-one tackling.
“We definitely have to shut down their space and time this week.”
Davids said a big emphasis would be placed on getting go-forward ball against the Japanese side.
“One of our biggest Achilles heels in our previous games was our lack of getting go-forward momentum. I think in the last game against the Hurricanes we succeeded in getting go-forward ball when we decided to use Stefan Watermeyer, Stefan Willemse and Edgar Marutlulle. In my opinion they did excellent work in terms of that,” Davids said.
“If you can play from the front foot the rest of the stuff falls into place. This week are are really focused on our shape on attack and to get quicker into position,” Davids said.
Kings captain Steven Sykes said his team would have to be on their toes in the lineouts and against the inventive Sunwolves forwards.
“I think they have exciting starter moves and peels around the front and the back and specially the one through the middle. Hopefully they do try it again this week because we did train to defend that,” Sykes said.
“But I reckon they will bring something completely different and we will have to be awake around the set pieces and make sure we look after all their stuff.”
Some key match stats:
1: The Kings have conceded 157 points combined in their last three matches against teams from outside of South Africa.
2: This will be the Sunwolves first ever match away from home turf in Super Rugby.
3: Both of the Kings’ two wins at home in Super Rugby history have come against teams from outside of South Africa (Force and Highlanders).
4: The Sunwolves have conceded eight tries on the opening phase of opposition possession, only the Kings (nine) have conceded more.
5: Tusi Pisi kicks at an accuracy of 94%, the highest of any player who’s attempted at least 15 shots at goal so far this season.
Southern Kings: Jurgen Visser, Siyanda Grey, Stefan Watermeyer, Shane Gates, Malcolm Jaer, Louis Fouche, Ntando Kebe, Aidon Davis, Stefan Willemse, CJ Velleman, JC Astle, Steven Sykes (capt), Jacobie Adriaanse, Edgar Marutlulle, Sti Sithole. Replacements: Martin Ferreira, Schalk Ferreira, Tom Botha, Schalk Oelofse, Chris Cloete, Kevin Luiters, Elgar Watts, Jaco van Tonder.
Sunwolves: Riaan Viljoen, Viliami Lolohea, Harumichi Tatekawa, Yu Tamura, Akihito Yamada, Tusi Pisi, Kaito Shigeno, Ed Quirk, Andrew Durutalo, Liaki Moli, Timothy Bond, Hitoshi Ono, Shinnosuke Kakinaga, Shota Horie (captain), Keita Inagaki. Replacements: Futoshi Mori, Masataka Mikami, Takuma Asahara, Shinya Makabe, Yoshiya Hosoda, Tomas Leonardi, Yuki Yatomi, Mifiposeti Paea.
Referee: Rasta Rasivhenge.
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