Late boost for Southern Kings

A decision to rescind a red card against bustling centre Tertius Kruger has given the Isuzu Southern Kings a boost ahead of their clash against the Dragons on Sunday.

       Kruger was given his marching orders in the Kings’  previous game against Ulster in Belfast by Scottish referee Lloyd Linton at the Kingspan Stadium.

      On Tuesday, a Guinness PRO14 disciplinary committee ruled unanimously that there was no act of foul play by Kruger.

      The move was welcomed by relieved Kings head coach Deon Davids at a training session.

     “I am very pleased that the card has been rescinded because we can build a bit of continuity now,” Davids said.

       “The decision at the end of  day cannot be reversed. It came at a critical time of the game when we conceded those cards to Tertius and  hooker Alandre van Rooyen. It had a huge impact on the outcome.

     “Looking back at this year I think we were a bit unlucky at times.  Maybe this is a change of luck and something that rewards us for the times when we have been under fire. I am glad that we can use Tertius this weekend.

     Davids says he gets frustrated when he looks at the overall disciplinary statistics for the Kings.

     “I definitely feel frustrated. I don’t think  there was  a lot of intentional stuff. There were a lot of stupid decisions we made at times and that is something that we consistently work on.

        “We started interventions by working closely with SA Rugby referees Mark Lawrence and Stuart Berry and we saw significant improvement in areas.

        “I also understand that in the heat of the moment a referee has to make a decision and he cannot get it right all the time.

     “To have the picture that we are undisciplined side is not a good thing I want our team to have because I know how hard we work not to have that situation.”

      Davids said scrumhalf Sarel Pretorius  is out for the rest of the season with a knee injury and loose forward Bakkies Brown would be going to see a neurosurgeon because he has had a couple of concussions this year.

      The Dragons have named a 29-man tour party for the trip to South Africa to face  Kings and the Toyota Cheetahs.

    Head coach Ceri Jones and his team left for South Africa on Tuesday. 

Back row forward James Benjamin (neck), Nicky Thomas (calf) and centre Tyler Morgan (shoulder) will miss the tour to continue rehab in Wales alongside Cory Hill, Aaron Jarvis, Brandon Nansen, Ollie Griffiths, Nic Cudd, Arwel Robson, Ashton Hewitt, Harrison Keddie and James Sheekey.

“It’s a very important trip for us and we go over to South Africa looking for positive results,” Jones said.

“The Kings are obviously pretty close to us in the table and the Cheetahs have been strong this season and will be a big challenge away from home.

“We are taking a strong squad on this tour and we want to get results. We are looking forward to getting over there.

“The group of Wales internationals that have come back to us have been away for a period so we have integrated them back in and it is all about getting that squad tight together and getting results.”

Dragons squad:

Brok Harris, Ryan Bevington, Leon Brown, Lloyd Fairbrother, Josh Reynolds, Rhys Lawrence, Elliot Dee, Richard Hibbard, Lewis Evans, Matthew Screech, Huw Taylor, Max Williams, Lennon Greggains, Aaron Wainwright, Taine Basham, Ross Moriarty, Tavis Knoyle, Rhodri Davies, Rhodri Williams, Jason Tovey, Josh Lewis, Jared Rosser, Hallam Amos, Jarryd Sage, Adam Warren, Jack Dixon, Will Talbot-Davies, Zane Kirchner, Jordan Williams