The ambitious Isuzu Southern Kings’ owners will not have enjoyed watching their newly acquired team being blanked 38-0 by a second-string Edinburgh outfit at Murrayfield on Saturday.
With news emerging on Friday that a consortium led by Loyiso Dotwana had been successful in their bid to take control of the Kings, the heavy defeat laid bare the side’s frailties.
It was a seventh consecutive defeat for the Kings, who remain stranded at the foot of the Guinness PRO14 log and looked rusty after a four-week break over the festive period.
It is clear that if the Kings are to be transformed into a competitive unit, the consortium must embark on a player recruitment programme.
With the season already at the halfway mark, it would appear a turnaround will only be achievable next season when the consortium have had time to get their feet under the table,
“First of all, we must congratulate Edinburgh, because they were very good,” Kings head coach Deon Davids said.
“They played the game at high intensity and there were very small margins for error. They capitalised well on our mistakes and we struggled to get our hands on the ball.
“Edinburgh started the game with tremendous pace and were very accurate and I think we were beaten by a better team tonight.”
Edinburgh assistant coach Duncan Hodge said he was delighted his side had managed to maintain their intensity.
“To make so many changes, and to come off the back of a huge four weeks we’ve just had was massive,” Hodge said.
“The focus all week was about being controlled and clinical, and just being consistent because after four weeks, when we beat Newcastle and Glasgow twice, we just didn’t want to drop off.
“There was a big onus on those guys tonight, guys like Fraser McKenzie and Jamie Ritchie having to lead that team, and generally they did it very well,” Hodge concluded, having seen his side move up to second place in the Conference B.
It was an early Darcy Graham double that helped Edinburgh to their resounding win.
Graham scored a try in each corner after Dougie Fife opened the scoring to put Edinburgh three tries up in the first 10 minutes.
Edinburgh raced into an early lead as Duhan van der Merwe laid the ball off for Fife to put the first points on the board, followed up by a successful conversion from Simon Hickey.
Moments later the Scotsmen were two tries up as another sweeping backline attack was finished off by Graham in the corner, Hickey again adding the extras.
And the Kings’ misery was trebled after Edinburgh added a third try in the opening 10 minutes.
Graham was the scorer again, benefiting from patient build-up play.
Edinburgh ended a productive half in the same the way they started it as Rory Sutherland added a fourth try and the bonus point.
Five minutes after the restart Edinburgh had their fifth try of the match as Simon Berghan notched his first try for the club, barging his way over the line. Hickey missed his second conversion of the afternoon to keep the score at 31-0.
Cameron Fenton was called onto the bench after David Cherry picked up an injury in the warm-up and made a tryscoring impact when he came onto the field with 10 minutes to play, scoring Edinburgh’s sixth.