Kings
Once Were Warriors! That was a movie that was powerful and sad at the same time and that is exactly what we will be saying about the Southern Kings next year if reports are true that the Eastern Cape franchise will be cut from Super Rugby.
The irony is that the movie was a New Zealand story based on a Maori family and most of the rumours about the Kings getting the cut in Super Rugby are coming from the Land of the Long White Cloud.
The Kings are a team born of the need to tap into the cradle of black rugby in South Africa and they have gone a long way in exposing some of that black talent to one of the world’s toughest competitions.
The Kings will survive, they are the ultimate rugby survivors.
The Sharks will stand in their way on Saturday, ready to devour them in the same cruel and sad way that the Maori head of the family treated his kin in the movie.
At the heart of the Sharks attack on the Kings will be Eastern Cape lads Curwin Bosch, Odwa Ndungane, Tera Mtembu, Lukhanyo Am and Jeremy Ward, all of whom once were kings and warriors in Eastern Cape rugby.
Many have tried on and off the field to cull the Kings and have failed and it is their performances this year that could see them survive yet again. Cheeky Watson has gone and they’ve survived; coaches and players have left and they’ve survived. Hell, they were once kicked out of Super Rugby but survive they have.
Sharks
Will the Kings reign at Kings Park tomorrow? Let’s be serious, there was more chance of Japan beating the Springboks in Brighton. Okay, maybe that is not the best analogy, but you know what I mean.
Let’s just say that a Kings win is not going to happen, not as long as the Sharks have as ruthless a coach as Robert du Preez. As a player, Du Preez was a rugged scrumhalf that brooked no bull dust and was not shy to have a crack at the opposition scrumhalf if he needed to be put in his place.
The Kings are limited. They are a combination of talented but inexperienced youngsters and has-beens. Let’s be honest about that. It will be a return visit to Durban for flyhalf Lionel Cronje and centre Waylon Murray, both of whom were released early from their contracts at the Sharks some years ago.
The Kings are not short on enthusiasm but they are desperately limited in terms of experience, quality across the board and momentum. They start from scratch each year they are in Super Rugby because they have no feeder teams of substance in the Currie Cup.
On the other hand, the Sharks are on fire. Even though they did not make the Currie Cup semi-finals last year, they blooded a number of youngsters, and on Saturday they will blood a few more. Last week if you had asked any member of the Sharks’ coaching staff before the game if they would accept a 37-14 win against the Waratahs, they would have said : “Yes please!”
Watch out for flyhalf Benhard Janse van Rensburg on debut. In the Shark Tank, they are touting him as the new Butch James because of his aggressive tackling.