A lot has happened since that match, the Southern Kings drew against that year’s finalist, the Brumbies, picked up a tour win in their final match against the Rebels and recorded a bonus point win against the Highlanders on home soil. They lost their Super Rugby status in a promotion/relegation against the Lions, while the EP Kings gained Currie Cup Premiere Division status.

Fast forward to a fortnight ago, the Southern Kings hosted the Cell C Sharks in their return season in the all new expanded Super Rugby. The final result was not what the Southern Kings hoped for, but after a three year absence and the loss of momentum after the 2013 season, when a lot of players moved on, the Eastern Cape franchise is left to write a new chapter.

The Southern Kings gave a good first half fight against the Sharks as the half ended 15 – 8 to the visitors, but four second half tries were just a bit too much as the game ended 43 – 8. The Kings had a bye in Round 2 to give them some time to regroup and get back to the drawing board before they face the 2 times Super Rugby champions.

The New Zealanders started off their campaign with a 27 – 21 win over the 7 time Super Rugby Champions, Crusaders, at Christchurch. Currently 8th on the Super Rugby log, the Chiefs will seek revenge when they travel to Port Elizabeth this week after their five match winning streak against the Lions came to an end last week at the FMG Stadium in Waikato, when they lost 32 – 36.

Despite letting it slip in the second half against the Cell C Sharks and being unable to build on a 5 point deficit at the break, Southern Kings captain, Steven Sykes said the team will be a different animal when they face the Chiefs tomorrow.

Kick-off is at 15:05.

Southern Kings:

15 Jurgen Visser 14 Luzuko Vulindlu 13 Stefan Watermeyer 12 Shane Gates 11 Malcolm Jaer 10 Louis Fouche 9 Ntando Kebe 8 Jacques Engelbrecht 7 Thembelani Bholi 6 Chris Cloete 5 JC Astle 4 Steven Sykes (capt) 3 Jacobie Adriaanse 2 Edgar Matutlule 1 Schalk Feirreira

Reserves:

16 Sithembiso Sithole 17 Martin Bezuidenhout 18 Tom Botha 19 Schalk Oelofse 20 CJ Velleman 21 Kevin Luiters 22 Elgar Watts 23 Jaco van Tonder

Galagher Chiefs:

15 Damian McKenzie 14 Glen Fisiiahi 13 Seta Tamanivalu 12 Charlie Ngatai 11 James Lowe 10 Aaron Cruden (co-capt) 9 Brad Weber 8 Michael Leitch 7 Sam Cane (co-capt) 6 Taleni Seu 5 Johan Bardoul 4 Michael Allardice 3 Siate Tokolahi 2 Nathan Harris 1 Mitchell Graham

Reserves:

16 Rhys Marshall 17 Pauliasi Manu 18 Atu Moli 19 James Tucker 20 Maama Vaipulu 21 Tawera Kerr-Barlow 22 Anton Lienert-Brown 23 Sam McNichol

Referee: Jaco van Heerden
Assistant referees: Jaco Peyper, Rodney Bonaparte
TMO: Johan Greeff