Baby steps for Southern Kings

Jan 19 • General News, Super Rugby • 1359 Views • Comments Off on Baby steps for Southern Kings

With just over a month left before the Southern Kings take the field in their first match in the all new expanded Super Rugby season, head coach Deon Davids gave some insight on what’s been happening at the 6th South African franchise.

Davids explained the importance of putting 2015 behind them and focus on their values and standards for the year to come. He said he also brought in a mental coach to help the guys understand that it is important to move forward, it’s a new competition with new opportunities.

He also explained the criteria selection and the situation the team find themselves in.

“Obviously it’s a very important situation, that you don’t want at this time, but we understand the current situation we in and it’s important that you go through a thorough process to ensure that the players you do get in are able to compete at Super Rugby level.”

David’s said that they are about a week away from finalizing the squad.

“There are a couple of positions we have identified where we looking for some depth and revisiting some talent. It’s not about the total for us at this time, it’s just insuring that we take a good look at ourselves after we’ve played our friendly games to make a good decision in terms of how to take it forward”, Davids explained.

Davids continued by saying, it’s important to look at the spine of your team, insuring you have quality players at hooker, tight head, lock, eighthman, half backs and fullback.

“You look at developing the spine and then also how you can mix up the experienced players with the young talent coming through in this region.”

“It is important to get the balance right because you want to make sure you have a competitive team in this competition, but you also need to build the experience in the years going forward”, Davids added.

The Southern Kings play their first match against fellow South Africans, The Cell C Sharks, at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth on the 27th of February.

Written by Pierre Mc Leod