Aiming to create a sense of continuity, the Southern Kings have named an unchanged line-up for their Super Rugby match against the Chiefs in Port Elizabeth on Friday.
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Captain Luke Watson remains on the sidelines following a throat injury sustained in the opening game against the Western Force, while lock Darron Nell retains the captaincy.
Kings director of rugby Alan Solomons said that Watson would undergo further examinations this week.
“He is seeing a specialist tomorrow [Wednesday] or Thursday and once we have feedback from that we will make a decision going forward,” Solomons said.
Friday will be the Kings’ third home game in a row, but they leave on Sunday morning for their overseas stint in the competition.
“At the start of the season, we said we wanted to get some consistency in selection, especially in the first three games, and the fact that we have been able to do that is a tribute to the players,” Solomons said.
The Super Rugby rookies started on a high with a win over the Force, but bowed to the Sharks with a 21-12 defeat on Saturday.
The Kings’ defence was outstanding against the Sharks, but coach Matt Sexton said a priority would be to achieve better ball retention.
“The Chiefs have good depth across the board so it will be another hard game,” Sexton said.
“Defensively we did well against the Sharks, but did not hold on to the ball properly and made some silly errors.
“That is something we have worked on in training and we need to make sure the guys understand the importance of holding on to the ball.”
Southern Kings: 15 SP Marais, 14 Marcello Sampson, 13 Ronnie Cooke, 12 Andries Strauss, 11 Sergeal Petersen, 10 Demetri Catrakilis, 9 Shaun Venter, 8 Jacques Engelbrecht, 7 Wimpie van der Walt, 6 Cornell du Preez, 5 Darron Nell (Captain), 4 Steven Sykes, 3 Kevin Buys, 2 Bandise Maku, 1 Schalk Ferreira.
Replacements: 16 Edgar Marutlulle, 17 Jaco Engels, 18 David Bulbring, 19 Daniel Adongo, 20 Nicolas Vergallo, 21 George Whitehead, 22 Hadleigh Parkes.
Date: Friday 15 March
Venue: Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth
Kick-off: 19:10 SA Time (17:10 GMT)
Referee: Stuart Berry (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Jason Jaftha (South Africa), Christie du Preez (South Africa)
TMO: Johann Meuwessen (South Africa)
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Eyebrows were raised when the Kings played four foreign imports against the Sharks last weekend, however they were not in breach of SARU’s rules, according to the Rugby365 website.
Much has been made this season of how the Kings asked the South African Rugby Union (SARU) to allow them to use more than the two allowed foreign players in this year’s Super Rugby competition.
Despite their unsuccessful appeal, four foreign nationals took to the field against the Sharks: Hadleigh Parkes (New Zealand), Nicolas Vergallo (Argentina), Daniel Adongo (Kenya) and Jaco Engels (Namibia).
However, players from the African continent are not regarded as foreign players, according to SARU policy.
Players from Namibia – such as Jaco Engels, Jacques Burger, Rohan Kitshoff and Kees Lensing – have been plying their trade in Super Rugby for years without being regarded as foreign players.
Many Zimbabweans have also played for South African franchises in recent years, such as Brian Mujati, Tonderai Chavhanga and Tendai Mtawarira, who all became Springboks.
They played Currie Cup and Super Rugby, but were not subject to the same restrictions as players from other continents, such as Carlos Spencer (Lions), Jebb Sinclair (Stormers), Tony Brown (Sharks and Stormers), Andy Goode, Gregor Townsend, Juan Martín Hernández, Freddie Michalak and Thierry Lacroix (all Sharks) among others, who have played for South African Super Rugby franchises over the years.
Adongo, the Kings’ Kenya-born lock-cum-flank, was previously with the Bulls and the Sharks and he has also enjoyed the same freedom as the other African players.
The Kings’ other foreign imports are Virgil Lacombe (France) and Tomas Leonardi (Argentina), who will be playing no part in the Kings’ 2013 Super Rugby campaign, but will form part of the EP Kings’ Vodacom Cup squad.
@ superBul:
I said on another thread that this is a crock of SHIT.
What the rule basically says is that you can cherry pick players throughtout Africa, fild as many Africans as you want and they won’t count as foreign players.
BULLSHIT RULE.
SARU and the Kings are morally corrupt, with Cheeky Watson pushing his middle finger up the SARU Exco’s collective rectum, and they’re just twiddling around on it with F-ALL collective will to bring the situation to book.
I thumb my nose at all concerned.
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