Kings stick with consistency for Chiefs clash

The Kings have named an unchanged team to face to 2012 Super Rugby champions the Chiefs in Round 5 of the tournament.

The Kings and Chiefs will meet at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in PE on Friday, 15 March 2013, with both teams coming off of loses, to the Sharks and Stormers respectively.

Kings director of rugby Alan Solomons believes that the consistent line-up is part of the plan.

“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,” said Solomons.

Coach Matt Sexton was pleased with the side’s defence against the Sharks, but knows that the Chiefs will need a different approach.

“The Chiefs have good depth across the board so it will be another hard game,” said Sexton.

“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,” added the coach.

Kick-off is on Friday, 15 March 2013, at 19:10 (SA time).

Southern Kings team:

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 Steven Sykes, 4 Darron Nell (c), 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.

Source: SuperXV