More fire is needed in the bellies of the under-performing Isuzu Southern Kings forwards if they want to topple Irish powerhouses Ulster, says head coach Deon Davids.
A physical duel up front is on the cards when the unbeaten Irish side clash with the Kings in a third-round Guinness PRO14 showdown at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth on Sunday.
Consecutive defeats on the road – to Zebre and the Dragons – has left Davids concerned about the quality of rugby his team is playing.
“We have to sharpen up our lineouts and scrums,” the Kings coach said.
“The Kings have a pack of forwards who can do much better and it is just a question of believing in our game plan and ourselves.
“We must improve from the start, so that we can compete at the same level from kick-off.”
In their game against the Dragons on Saturday , the Kings were trailing 17-0 after 21 minutes at the Rodney Parade, in Newport.
“We had a terrible start and allowed the opposition to get ahead of us. From that point on we had to play catch-up rugby,” Davids said.
“The focus going forward will be to improve our decision-making so we will continue to work very hard on that and simulate some match scenarios in training.
“It is important to be able to run-catch-pass better. We must improve our ability to run onto the ball and attack the advantage line more aggressively.
“The Kings need to make good decisions out wide and this is going to become very important.
“I acknowledge that we are a very young team and we are still learning to cope under pressure and playing in these conditions in Europe.
“We are also learning about each other in terms of combinations.
“We must take that step up very quickly and improve in the areas we have identified from game to game.”
Davids will take heart from his team’s attacking prowess and the four tries they scored against the Dragons.
Captain Michael Willemse, Bjorn Basson, Godlen Masimla and Yaw Penxe all crossed the line for five-pointers.
Scrumhalf John Cooney’s last-gasp penalty against Edinburgh last week made it two wins from two for Ulster before their two-week tour of SA, where they will face the Kings and Cheetahs in rounds three and four.
“We need to build on what we’ve done,” Ulster attack coach and former Welsh scrumhalf Dwayne Peel said.
“There are going to be parts of our game every week that aren’t right, but we also have to look at the good parts.
“We must think that was good, let’s build on that and let’s become very good at that.
“And that’s where Ulster are at now. I think going away to SA now is a good time for us.”