Eastern Province Rugby facing some new challenges

With International rugby coming to an end, atleast for now, Eastern Province Rugby is facing some new challenges. With Super Rugby continuing after a month long break and Currie Cup 1st Division kicking off this weekend, managing players will probably be top on their to do list.  

The Southern Kings will be facing the Vodacom Bulls in Pretoria without their captain Luke Watson, who needs to go for an ankle opperation that will take him out of the game for another six months. Steven Sykes is still out with injury, along with Siyanda Grey and Sergeal Peterson. At least some good news for the Southern Kings is that Michael Killian has fully recovered form his injury and will start on the right wing against the Bulls on Saturday.

The problem they facing with the EP Kings defending their 1st Division cup is that, due to the fact of Super Rugby and 1st Division overlapping, the EP King will have to play their first six matches without some of their 1st choice players. As challenging as it might be for the EP Kings, it also creates a wonderful oppertunity for younger players to put their hands up and for EP Rugby to test their depth within the province.

EP Kings will be without their top players for the opening Currie Cup matches against the Pumas (June 28, Nelson Mandela Bay), Griffons (July 6, Welkom), Leopards (July 12,NMB), South Western Districts Eagles (July 19, George), Boland (July 26,NMB), Falcons (August 3, Kempton Park) and Border (NMB).

Director of Rugby, Alan Solomons, said this was a unique situation, as never before has Super Rugby and Currie Cup schedules overlapped to this extent, and that this would pose significant challenges, as essentially the province would have to manage two teams simultaneously.  

“We are confident that we will be able to put in a good showing in the Currie Cup, despite these challenges,” said Solomans.

“This is what we have been saying all along, Super Rugby is not just about being able to compete in the top competition, it also creates opportunities for other players who would otherwise not necessarily have had the opportunities to play,” 

“I know that David Maidza and Robbi Kempson are up for the challenge,” he said.

EP Kings Acting CEO and General Manager, Charl Crous, said the union would continue with its stance of making top flight rugby in the province accessible to the general public.

“We have decided to charge just R30 per ticket for our Currie Cup games, with children under 13 paying just R15,” he said.

Its surely an exciting but also a challenging time at EP Rugby at the moment, with the Southern Kings and their quest to retain their Super Rugby status for another season and EP Kings defending their 1st Division cup with a possible promo/relegation match to play for at the end of the Currie Cup season. 

Kings to play Currie Cup Premier Division (Part 2)

The views of the Southern Kings were starting to change slightly among the media and were even given the thumbs up to stand a chance in beating a struggling Bulls side. They also welcomed back their inspirational captain, Luke Watson who got injured in their first game against the Force, but not even he could change the outcome of the match as the effects of a tiring tour was taking its toll on the players as nothing went their way on the night and unable to score a single point, went down 34 - 0. They played the Cheetahs the following week in Bloemfontein, they kept the home side from scoring four tries but were unable to close the 14 point deficit. The Waratahs came to Port Elizabeth to give the Southern Kings their first proper hiding, scoring 11 tries in the process to bring the final score to 72 - 10 after the 80 minutes.

The Southern Kings had to dig deep for their 10th consecutive match when they faced the bottom of the log Highlanders. Alan Solomons always said the team is build on character, and character was maybe a bit more then what they needed when they faced the Highlanders, with one game left before they get a well deserved beak. Their character came through strong against the Highlanders, Watson was leading magnificently from the front with two of his teams four tries. Their defense held out when it was needed the most and they recorded a well deserved bonus point win, 34 - 27. They were unable to build on that momentum when they came back from their break to face the Cheetahs at home and went down 22 - 34.

The Southern Kings have showed they are here to play rugby, their record might not look that great as they played 12, won 3 drawn 1 and lost 8, they have scored 244 points and conceded 415 points, scored 22 and conceded 50 tries with 2 bonus points and 24 log points. Maybe not bad for a debut season but that will definitely change with more experience. 

What good has Super Rugby done for the Eastern Cape and the Southern Kings? Its brought top rugby and players back to the Eastern Cape, its filled the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium with much joy. SA rugby is again starting to look at players, with Sergeal Petersen selected for the u20 side and Demetri Catrakilis invited to join the Springbok training camp, and with another year they might look at players like SP Marais, Shaun Venter, Cornel du Preez, Wimpie van der Walt or Jacques Engelbrecht just to name a few.

In my opinion the best thing SARU can do for EP Rugby if they really want to see growth in the province is to accommodate them to play in the Premier Division of the Currie Cup, not a promo/relegation but to add them to the competition. And this is why; let's say the Kings beat the Lions in the promo/relegation match at the end of the Super Rugby campaign, EP Kings will play 1st division where the rest of the teams will go into Super Rugby 2014 with Currie Cup momentum and can easily adapt to the pace of Super Rugby, the Southern Kings will always be a few paces behind. 

There is with out a doubt something special happening within Eastern Province Rugby, NMMU having their best season to date in the Varsity Cup, Despatch winning the first ever Cell C Community Cup, EP Kings reached the semi final in the Vodacom Cup, rugby is definitely on a high and we can only hope the momentum won't be stopped and we see EP rugby fall back into a dark place. 

Kings to play Currie Cup Premier Division (Part 1)

I wrote the following piece on why EP Kings should be included in the Currie Cup Premier Division in the June issue of Sport Elizabeth.

The Southern Kings have showed what a team can do with a little heart and determination, and what you can accomplish if you want to prove a point. They were given very little chance of any success during their debut Super Rugby season, in fact not even a win and most will be like "cricket scores". 

Questions were asked if they will have the depth to outlast the tough competition, will they get a sponsor and will they be able to fill the stadium. A vast majority of South Africans were against the inclusion and might still be after they replaced the Lions who finished last on the over all log in last year competition.

The franchise struggled to sign any big names or former Eastern Cape players as that was the original plan to bring those players back home. The Kings have already secured former Eastern Cape boys, Luke Watson who returned to South Africa after leaving English club Bath and Micheal Killian who decided to return to Port Elizabeth to further his career after a successful 3 years at the Lions which included the Currie Cup in 2010.

New signing included one former Eastern Cape boy and Sharks lock Steven Sykes, Cheetah center Andries Strauss, Lions hooker Bandisa Maku and Lions lock David Bulbring. They also caused a lot of controversy when they named all their foreign players in their Super Rugby squad, namely Daniel Adongo, Nicolas Vergallo, Thomas Leonardi, Virgile Lacombe and Hadleigh Parks. 

Parks was the only player that featured regularly in the starting xv at center but when he broke his arm it gave an opportunity to Ronnie Cooke to make that jersey his own. Very little did we know Maku will keep French hooker Virgile Lacombe out of the starting xv, Maku is really been one of the players that took full advantage of this opportunity to play Super Rugby at the Southern Kings and has been one of the stand out players and played himself as the first choice hooker who keeps on improving game by game. Daniel Adongo and Thomas Leonardi had to happy to play a handful of games and help out at the Vodacom Cup as local players Wimpie van der Walt and Cornel du Preez are keeping them out of the team. Argentinian scrumhalf Nicolas Vergallo is the only other player thats had regular game time, but also second choice to Shaun Venter.

Before the start of the season you would have probably said who's Cornel du Preez, Wimpie van der Walt, Shaun Venter and Jacques Engebrecht. Demetri Catrakilis is not a first choice Super Rugby flyhalf. Andries Strauss, Ronnie Cooke and Steven Sykes are past their prime and cant keep up with the pace anymore. Sergeal Petersen is too young to be playing Super Ruby at the age of 18.   

The Southern Kings started their Super Rugby by re-writing the history books as the only new franchise to enter the competition and win their first game when they beat the Western Force in front of a packed Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth op the 23rd of February 2013. That game will also be remembered for young Sergeal Petersens two tries and being awarded man of the match in his debut game. The Southern Kings went into their next to games facing the finalists of last years Super Rugby competition, losing to the Sharks by 9 points and the Chiefs by 11 points.

Most expected the worst for their first over seas tour, facing the Canterbury Crusaders, Hurricanes, Brumbies and Melbourne Rebels. Their 100+ score line against 7 times Super Rugby Champions Crusaders turned out to be a 35 point difference. The game against the Hurricanes would've been the one where they get humiliated, that turned out to be a 16 point ball game. The Southern Kings started to get momentum and started believing in themselves as they headed to Australia to face the Brumbies and the Rebels. They probably managed to biggest upset when they drew 28 all against then over all log leaders the Brumbies as they went the extra mile to score their bonus point and equalising try in the 82 minute of the game. The following week they went one step further and won their first game over seas as they beat the Rebels with an injury time drop goal by Demetri Catrakilis, 27 - 30. The Southern Kings returned to Port Elizabeth as heroes, bringing back 7 log points from their 4 games.

Part two to follow...