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Kings grab just second win of PRO14 season in dramatic style

Reasons to celebrate were few and far between for the Kings last season. (Photo by Michael Sheehan/Gallo Images)

The Southern Kings scored two tries in two minutes to record a sensational come-from-behind win over Edinburgh in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.

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The 25-21 victory, at the Madibaz Stadium, was only their second win of the season amd only their third since joining the league in 2017.

Having held a 13-7 lead at half-time, the Kings saw the Scottish visitors take a 21-13 lead – with a penalty try (in the 61st minute) and a score by Ross Ford (71st minute).

However, a double strike by new import Bader-Werner Pretorius in the 75th minute (after having just come on as a replacement for his Pro14 debut) and Yaw Penxe (a move that started deep inside his own 22-metre area, from the restart) gave the Kings a sensational win.

The Kings started brilliantly through Bjorn Basson’s individual effort but Edinburgh soon fired back through centre Chris Dean.

The Scots dominated the middle portion of the match and went ahead with a second-half penalty try, followed up with a score for hooker Ross Ford.

But the Kings had other ideas.

The home side started like a train and got the first try in the opening minutes as Basson executed a wonderful bit of skill down the left flank.

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Attacking from just inside the Edinburgh half Basson took a pass out wide, chipped in-field to beat the defence and then touched down for an excellent score.

Masixole Banda kicked the extras, but Edinburgh would fire back almost immediately – going through phase after phase in the opposition 22 before a delightful inside pass found centre Chris Dean to do the rest.

Van der Walt kicked the conversion, followed by a penalty at the other end, with Edinburgh enjoying most of the possession for the rest of the half – only for Banda to kick three more points before the break.

The Kings led 13-7 at the interval, but Edinburgh continued to press in the second half, almost getting over from short range through Pietro Ceccarelli only for a knock-on to be given.

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The Kings defence held out impressively but was dealt a blow on the hour as blindside flank Cyril Velleman saw yellow and Edinburgh were awarded a penalty.

The South African side had made 180 tackles at this stage as the Scots opted for a scrum, eventually being rewarded with a penalty try to put them 14-13 ahead.

Edinburgh’s dominance continued and they used forward power for their third try, driving off a line-out until Ford was able to snipe over the line from short distance.

The Kings though weren’t done there and attacked in the final 10 minutes, with replacement Pretorius powering over with just four minutes on the clock.

From the restart the try of the game was still to come, with the Kings receiving the restart and immediately passing wide to another substitute – Meli Rokoua.

Rokoua stepped inside to beat the defence and flew to the halfway line before offloading out the back of his hand to Penxe, who stepped up the pace a notch further and blasted in to the tryline for a famous win.

The scorers

For the Southern Kings:
Tries: Basson, Pretorius, Penxe
Cons: Banda 2
Pens: Banda 2

For Edinburgh:
Tries: Dean, Penalty try, Ford
Cons: Van der Walt 2, penalty try does not require a conversion

Yellow cards: Cyril Velleman (Southern Kings, 61 – repeated infringements, collapsing maul), James Johnstone (Edinburgh, 76 – cynical foul, killing the ball at ruck)

Teams:

Southern Kings: 15 Masixole Banda, 14 Yaw Penxe, 13 Harlon Klaasen, 12 Tertius Kruger, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Ntabeni Dukisa, 9 Stefan Ungerer, 8 Andisa Ntsila, 7 Martinus Burger, 6 Cyril John Velleman, 5 John-Charles Astle (captain), 4 Andries Van Schalkwyk, 3 Luvuyo Pupuma, 2 Michael Willemse, 1 Schalk Ferreira/Alulutho Tshakweni.
Replacements: 16 Alandre Van Rooyen, 17 Lupumlo Mguca, 18 Alulutho Tshakweni/Nicolaas Oosthuizen, 19 Stephan Greeff, 20 Henry Brown, 21 Sarel Pretorius, 22 Bader Pretorius, 23 Meli Rokoua.

Edinburgh: 15 Dougie Fife, 14 Tom Brown, 13 George Taylor, 12 Chris Dean, 11 James Johnstone, 10 Jaco van der Walt, 9 Henry Pyrgos, 8 Viliame Mata, 7 Ally Miller, 6 Luke Crosbie, 5 Callum Hunter-Hill, 4 Fraser McKenzie (captain), 3 Pietro Ceccarelli, 2 David Cherry, 1 Pierre Schoeman.
Replacements: 16 Ross Ford, 17 Darryl Marfo, 18 Murray McCallum, 19 Jamie Hodgson, 20 Mungo Mason, 21 Nathan Fowles, 22 Simon Hickey, 23 Juan Pablo Socino.

Referee: Dan Jones (Wales)
Assistant referees: Stuart Berry (South Africa), Ruhan Meiring (South Africa)
TMO: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)

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O
Oh no, not him again? 2 hours ago
England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

Okay, so we blew it big time on Saturday. So rather than repeating what most people have all ready said, what do I want to see from Borthwick going forward?


Let's keep Marcus Smith on the pitch if he's fit and playing well. I was really pleased with his goal kicking. It used to be his weakness. I feel sympathy for George Ford who hadn't kicked all match and then had a kick to win the game. You hear pundits and commentators commend kickers who have come off the bench and pulled that off. Its not easy. If Steve B continues to substitute players with no clear reason then he is going to get criticised.


On paper I thought England would beat NZ if they played to their potential and didn't show NZ too much respect. Okay, the off the ball tackles certainly stopped England scoring tries, but I would have liked to see more smashing over gainlines and less kicking for position. Yes, I also know it's the Springbok endorsed world cup double winning formula but the Kiwi defence isn't the Bok defence, is it. If you have the power to put Smith on the front foot then why muzzle him? I guess what I'm saying is back, yourself. Why give the momentum to a team like NZ? Why feed the beast? Don't give the ball to NZ. Well d'uh.


Our scrum is a long term weakness. If you are going to play Itoje then he needs an ogre next door and a decent front row. Where is our third world class lock? Where are are realible front row bench replacements? The England scrum has been flakey for a while now. It blows hot and cold. Our front five bench is not world class.


On the positive side I love our starting backrow right now. I'd like to see them stick together through to the next world cup.


Anyway, there is always another Saturday.

7 Go to comments
C
CO 2 hours ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Robertson is more a manager of coaches than a coach so it comes down to intent of outcomes at a high level. I like his intent, I like the fact his Allblacks are really driving the outcomes however as he's pointed out the high error rates are not test level and their control of the game is driving both wins and losses. England didn't have to play a lot of rugby, they made far fewer mistakes and were extremely unlucky not to win.


In fact the English team were very early in their season and should've been comfortably beaten by an Allblacks team that had played multiple tests together.


Razor has himself recognised that to be the best they'll have to sort out the crisis levels of mistakes that have really increased since the first two tests against England.


Early tackles were a classic example of hyper enthusiasm to not give an inch, that passion that Razor has achieved is going to be formidable once the unforced errors are eliminated.


That's his secret, he's already rebuilt the passion and that's the most important aspect, its inevitable that he'll now eradicate the unforced errors. When that happens a fellow tier one nation is going to get thrashed. I don't think it will be until 2025 though.


The Allblacks will lose both tests against Ireland and France if they play high error rates rugby like they did against England.


To get the unforced errors under control he's going to be needing to handover the number eight role to Sititi and reset expectations of what loose forwards do. Establish a clear distinction with a large, swarthy lineout jumper at six that is a feared runner and dominant tackler and a turnover specialist at seven that is abrasive in contact. He'll then need to build depth behind the three starters and ruthlessly select for that group to be peaking in 2027 in hit Australian conditions on firm, dry grounds.


It's going to help him that Savea is shifting to the worst super rugby franchise where he's going to struggle behind a beaten pack every week.


The under performing loose forward trio is the key driver of the high error rates and unacceptable turn overs due to awol link work. Sititi is looking like he's superman compared to his openside and eight.


At this late stage in the season they shouldn't be operating with just the one outstanding loose forward out of four selected for the English test. That's an abject failure but I think Robertson's sacrificing link quality on purpose to build passion amongst the junior Allblacks as they see the reverential treatment the old warhorses are receiving for their long term hard graft.


It's unfortunately losing test matches and making what should be comfortable wins into nail biters but it's early in the world cup cycle so perhaps it's a sacrifice worth making.


However if this was F1 then Sam Cane would be Riccardo and Ardie would be heading into Perez territory so the loose forwards desperately need revitalisation through a rebuild over the next season to complement the formidable tight five.

28 Go to comments
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