Injury headaches for Kings

Several key Isuzu Southern Kings players are on the injured list ahead of their team's Guinness PRO14 clash against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein on Saturday.

         Kings head coach Deon Davids is hoping  running repairs can be done to at least six players ahead of his team’s final match at the Toyota Stadium.

       “It has been a bit of a tough week for us in the sense that it is the last game of the season,” Davids said.     

          “There are a few bumps and bruises we have to sort out and a few guys are running around with  injuries. There is a sense of excitement in that, after all the hard work and commitment, we just want to enjoy and express ourselves in the last game.

        “The guys had a good build-up last week, building through into this week, and everyone is looking forward to the game.”

          “If you look at the injury list it is a bit of a test going into the last game. People will remember that last year we struggled to put a team into the field against the Cheetahs.

        “We have done our best to prepare to the best of our ability and last week we connected as a group working towards getting everything right  for this week and we have tried to tick all the boxes.

       “On the injury front centres Harlon Klaasen and Berton Klaasen have got hamstring injuries. Another player with a hamstring injury is Yaw Penxe.

     “Up front Alulutho Tskaweni is struggling with his back and Stephan Greeff has taken a knock to the chin and cheek bone and we are trying to sort him out.

     “In addition to that loose forward Andisa Ntsila has a rib injury.  So some of the usual starting line-up are struggling with niggles, and hopefully we will have them sorted out later in the week.”

       So far the Kings have won only two of their 20 games are desperate to end the season on a winning note.

       “This Kings were not happy with our showing against the Ospreys, and we went back to look at where we can improve against the Cheetahs,” said Kings hooker Michael Willemse.

      “Since I have been at the Kings we have not beaten the Cheetahs and we want to pull that win off of this weekend. We really want this one.”

           “The Cheetahs have done well for the past two seasons after leaving Super Rugby.  They got to the PRO14 quarters last year and pulled off a couple of good wins this season.

       “Their attack it really good and their forward pack has some big boys who run hard lines. Our forward pack had a good session on Tuesday and I think we must front up.

     “It is that old cliche that it will  start up front and that is what we  believe in. Hopefully we can put up a good platform for our backs to get some tries in the corners."