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Recap: Southern Kings vs Cheetahs LIVE | Guinness PRO14
By RugbyPass
Follow all the action on the RugbyPass live blog from the Guinness PRO14 match between Southern Kings and Cheetahs at Nelson Mandela Bay stadium.
Keep up to date with the latest score, stats and join the conversation from anywhere in the world in our Live Match Centre (click here).
Kings full-back Masixole Banda will earn his 50th cap for the franchise in the round eight fixture. The 31-year-old hot-stepper has amassed his caps in both the Guinness PRO14 championship and Super Rugby, making him one of the stalwarts of the Port Elizabeth-based side.
The diminutive player, who has shown his versatility at both full-back and fly-half, will run on in the No15 jersey on Saturday in front of his hometown crowd.
“I’m really excited to have reached this milestone,” a jubilant Banda said, hoping Kings can fare better than they did when trounced by Edinburgh in their last outing.
(Continue reading below...)
Pieter-Steph du Toit fronts up to the media in South Africa
“It has not been easy reaching 50 games which is not a feat that many players are able to reach. I’m proud of the road that I have travelled in my career to reach this stage.
“It is extra special for me because it can be something that can motivate other kids who come from our townships like I do. I’m grateful for the opportunities I have received to reach this point.
“I hope that I can contribute towards the team’s cause and aim of leaving the field with a win. The Kings is a team that is close to my heart and I always give it my all for my team-mates, the coaches and the fans. It will be no different when I play my 50th match.”
The Cheetahs, meanwhile, return to near full-strength for the South African derby following their recent hammering at Zebre.
Coach Hawies Fourie has selected a new wing pairing, brought back hooker Joseph Dweba and No8 Gerhard Olivier as he strengthens the side for a must-win encounter if the Cheetahs are to keep up their quest to make the playoffs.
“It doesn’t matter if you performed badly in the previous game. Each week is going to be a challenge and you can’t take any game for granted,” said captain Tian Meyer.
“We have trained hard these last two weeks and we tried to rectify our mistakes. Mentally we’ve made a step-up and we’ll try our best to put out a better performance.”
SOUTHERN KINGS: 15. Masixole Banda; 14. Yaw Penxe, 13. Sibusiso Sithole, 12. John-Thomas Jackson, 11. Erich Cronje; 10. Bader Pretorius, 9. Stefan Ungerer; 1. Schalk Ferreira, 2. Jacques du Toit, 3. Rossouw de Klerk, 4. Jerry Sexton, 5. Aston Fortuin, 6. Ruaan Lerm, 7. Thembelani Bholi, 8. Elrigh Louw. Reps: 16. Alandre van Rooyen, 17. Xandre Vos, 18. Ignatius Prinsloo, 19. Bobby de Wee, 20. Lusanda Badiyana, 21. Theo Maree, 22. Courtney Winnaar, 23. Andell Loubser.
CHEETAHS: 15. Rhyno Smith; 14. Clayton Blommetjies, 13. William Small-Smith, 12. Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 11. Anthony Volmink; 10. Tian Schoeman, 9. Tian Meyer (capt); 1. Boan Venter, 2. Joseph Dweba, 3. Aranos Coetzee, 4. Sintu Manjezi, 5. Walt Steenkamp, 6. Chris Massyn, 7. Junior Pokomela, 8. Gerhard Olivier. Reps: 16. Wilmar Arnoldi, 17. Erich de Jager, 18. Luan de Bruin, 19. JP du Preez, 20. Aidon Davis, 21. Ruan Pienaar, 22. George Whitehead, 23. Chris Smit.
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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