Southern Kings head coach Deon Davids criticised his side for giving away easy points in Saturday's 39-26 loss to Argentina's Jaguares in Port Elizabeth. However, he reserved praise for his substitutes – singling out ex-Grahamstonian Luzuko Vulindlu as one of his star performers on the night.
Southern Kings head coach Deon Davids criticised his side for giving away easy points in Saturday's 39-26 loss to Argentina's Jaguares in Port Elizabeth. However, he reserved praise for his substitutes – singling out ex-Grahamstonian Luzuko Vulindlu as one of his star performers on the night.
Addressing the media after the match, Davids confessed: "Unfortunately, we couldn't find that intensity and rhythm that we would like to have. It's simple – you can't play rugby without the ball. Our lineouts, scrums, and set pieces weren't as good tonight as they could be and I think that's something that we definitely need to work on."
"I think we just played against ourselves. In the first 10 minutes, after half-time, we conceded two tries from two simple errors. They were not structured tries. They actually scored tries from our mistakes. That is something we need to improve on."
However, Davids reserved special praise for his substitutes, who swung the momentum late in the game. Largely due to their contribution, the Southern Kings were able to pull the score back to 39-26 with tries from Makazole Mapimpi and former Graeme College star Vulindlu.
"The front three, Chris Cloete, and Luzuko Vulindlu made a huge impact towards the end. They picked up the tempo and the rhythm. It's good if you have players who can come off the bench and make a difference," he said.
The Southern Kings next play away to the Sunwolves on 4 March, before returning home to face the Stormers seven days later.
Davids will hope that their late surge in their opening fixture was a sign of things to come over what looks set to be another challenging season for the Eastern Cape side.
