Fears of injuries to their depleted squad have forced the Southern Kings to cancel a proposed contact session against the Border Bulldogs at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium B field in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.
The Kings had been hoping to prepare for their opening PRO14 match against Zebre on September 1 with a tough workout against the Currie Cup First Division outfit.
Player recruitment at the Kings has stalled, and this has left head coach Deon Davids with 27 players to work with in training.
Of that skeleton squad, 10 are busy with rehabilitation and some have niggles.
Davids said after training on Tuesday that scrumhalf Sarel Pretorius and prop Rossouw de Klerk had picked up niggles.
“Sarel injured his foot and Rossouw injured a chest muscle and we are awaiting reports on their fitness. These things happen and you do worry because it gives you a problem with your depth.”
Before the session was called off, Davids said he lay awake at night and was riding an emotional roller-coaster ahead of his team’s opening match.
“A huge challenge is waiting for the team, especially in the first few weeks of the competition,” he said.
“Having so few players makes it very difficult to play warm-up games. I cannot risk my fit players in a warm-up game.
“If someone gets injured, we may not have a replacement.
“The biggest problem has been not having a big enough squad to replicate things in training like attack and defence.
“Naturally, things are better than they were last season, when we did not have a preseason with the nucleus of our squad. But it is definitely not ideal,” he said.
“Because of our numbers, we have not been able to have contact sessions or matches.
“We are also short of a forwards coach.”
Asked about the recruitment of further players, Davids said: “Naturally, there are more players on their way.
“The problem is that when they arrive their fitness needs to be tested and they have to get used to our structures.
“Some new players might out of necessity have to tour overseas with us. We are leaving for Italy on August 27.
“I can’t complain about the attitude of the guys at training because they have worked very hard. We will have to move quickly to boost our numbers.
“We are especially thin in the backline.”
After their opening game against Zebre, the Kings have another game against the Dragons in Wales on September 8.
The Kings face Ulster on September 16 at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in their first home game.