The Bulls played to a 16-all draw when they faced the Cell C Sharks at Loftus. The match was a typical scrappy South African derby and the home side can count themselves very fortunate as Sharks flyhalf, Joe Peterson, missed a sitter slap-bang in the middle to win the game.

The Bulls had to fight hard in their last two matches against a determined Sunwolves side at the Singapore National Stadium and the Toyota Cheetahs in Pretoria. Only three points separated the teams in Singapore as the Bulls won 30 – 27 and five points at Loftus as the Bulls managed to pull off a 23 – 18 win against the Cheetahs.

The Southern Kings on the other hand, fresh from their New Zealand tour, had their first taste of Japanese rugby as they faced the Sunwolves at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium. The home side raced to a 10 –  0 lead after ten minutes, which included a try from captain Steven Sykes and a successful conversion and penalty kick from Louis Fouche. Despite adding another two unconverted tries along with another penalty, the Sunwolves scored two quick tries at the start of the second quarter and another on half time along with a penalty as the Southern Kings took a three point half time lead, 23 – 20.

Both teams scored a try and a penalty in the second half, but it was however the more reliable boot of Fouche that gave them the edge after the eighty minutes, 33 – 28, securing their first Super Rugby win.

Focusing on the game at hand against the Bulls, the teams faced each other twice in 2013. The Bulls were first up after the Southern Kings’ Australasian tour, where they lost to Crusaders and the Hurricans, but drew against the Brumbies and beat the Rebels in their final match before returning to Port Elizabeth.

The experienced Bulls were just too strong for the home side as they scored a bonus point 0 – 34 win in front of a 45 649 strong crowd. Having to face the Bulls at Loftus is never an easy task for any team and the visitors experienced that in a 48 – 18 defeat.

The Southern Kings have made steady improvement in their last couple of matches and can take much confidence from last week’s win over the Sunwolves, after a brave defensive effort which saw off a determined Sunwolves side in the last ten minutes.

The match against the Bulls will bring new challenges for Deon Davids and his team as they grow week in and week out in the toughest provincial rugby competition in the world, the Vodacom Super Rugby.

Kick-off is at 19:15

Southern Kings:

15 Jurgen Visser 14 Luzuko Vulindlu 13 Lukhanyo Am 12 Stefan Watermeyer 11 Malcolm Jaer 10 Louis Fouche 9 James Hall 8 Aidon Davis 7 Stefan Willemse 6 Chris Cloete 5 JC Astle 4 Steven Sykes (capt) 3 Tom Botha 2 Edgar Marutlulle 1 Sti Sithole

Reserves:

16 Martin Ferreira 17 Schalk Ferreira 18 Justin Ackerman 19 Schalk Oelofse 20 CJ Velleman 21 Ntando Kebe 22 Leighton Eksteen / JP du Plessis 23 Jaco van Tonder

Vodacom Bulls:

15 SP Marais 14 Travis Ismaiel 13 Jesse Kriel 12 Jan Serfontein 11 Jamba Ulengo 10 Tian Schoeman 9 Piet van Zyl 8 Arno Botha 7 Jannes Kirsten 6 Lappies Labuschagne 5 RG Snyman 4 Jason Jenkins 3 Marcel van der Merwe 2 Adriaan Strauss (c) 1 Trevor Nyakane

Reserves:

16 Bandise Maku 17 Pierre Schoeman 18 Werner Kruger 19 Marvin Orie 20 Roelof Smit 21 Ivan van Zyl 22 Francois Brummer 23 Dan Kriel