Southern Kings take break and will regroup next week
AFTER five tough weeks of Super Rugby the Southern Kings’ bye weekend could not have come at a better time, head coach Deon Davids said.
After going down 38-6 against the Bulls at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday, the Kings return to action against the Lions on April 23 in Port Elizabeth.
“To be honest, this bye weekend could not have come at a better time for us,” Davids said.
“It was a tough five weeks for the team. Not just physically tough, but also mentally tough. Also, in terms of the group, we had a couple of injuries which broke our continuity.
“So guys got opportunities and we got a good idea where we stand with certain players.
“Now we can go and revisit the past five weeks and see what we can improve on and look at our skill level in terms of our error rate.
“The team need to be brutally honest in terms of individual and team effort, whether it is on attack or defence to give us the result that we want,” Davids said.
The team will go on their break tomorrow before reconvening on Monday ahead of the Lions game.
“We will be together as a team for Monday [yesterday] and Tuesday [today] – going through our normal medical, recovery and remedial work, and start planning ahead.
“We will give them a break from rugby from [tomorrow].
“Sometimes it is good to get out of the environment and then to come back a bit more focused and fresher.
“It was five tough weeks with overseas tours and tough games here in South Africa,” Davids said.
The Bulls outscored the Kings team by six tries to nil, which left Davids and his young team with much to ponder on during their bye week.
Speedster Jamba Ulengo (2), SP Marais (2), Jan Serfontein and RG Snyman all crossed for tries, while the Kings could only muster two penalties in reply from the boot of Louis Fouche.
“The biggest disappointment at this point is that we are conceding soft moments,” the coach said.
“It is a lapse, whether it is a catch, kick or pass, when we lose concentration and the opposition get a turnover and they capitalise on it. This is something we continually have to work on.”
