Monday 20 March 2017

Close but no cigar

Close but no cigar is how it ended for the Southern Kings when they played the Sharks at Kings Park in Durban on Satuday evening, after Curwin Bosch kicked a long range penalty to deny the visitors their first win against a fellow South African franchise.

Two tries and the accurate boot, for most part of the match, of Lionel Cronje kept the Kings in the lead up until the 70th minute mark.

The Kings capitalised on poor decision making and numerous handling errors from the home side, that became their worst enemy on the night, but despite an early penalty kick from Bosch it was the Kings that scored the first try through a Ruan Lerm charge down to end the first quarter. Cronje added the extras to give his team a 7 - 3 lead.

The Sharks regained a one point lead after Lourens Adriaanse crashed over for their first try as Kings were reduced to 14 men, but their lead was short lived as Kings flyer, Makazole Mapimpi snatched a loose pass from the Sharks to score their second try. Cronje stretch their lead to 14 - 8 after he slotted his seventeenth successive kick at goal in this year's competition.

Cronje had an opportunity to extend their lead even further, but was unsuccessful as he missed a kick from out wide as the teams went into the halftime break, 14 - 8 to the Kings.

Bosch and Cronje exchanged early second half penalties, before the Sharks scored their second try at the start of the forth quarter. Bosch missed the extras to put his team in the lead as the Sharks trailed by one, 16 - 17.

Bosch kicked a long range penalty that gave the Sharks a two point lead, 19 - 17, with ten minutes to play.

Cronje had an opportunity to snatch a well deserved victory from the Sharks, but pushed it wide as the match finally ended 19 - 17 in favour of the home side.

Southern Kings coach, Deon Davids said afterwards he was very proud of the boys' efforts. 

"I think they made a huge step up in certain areas of the game. I think defensively they were very good in the first half, they continued so in the second half to stop the momentum of the Sharks."

He admitted their scrums were a bit under pressure and that they didn't capitalise on their opportunities.

"I think the areas we need to improve on is our discipline. I think we conceded too many penalties and that kept the Sharks in the game. Also our tactical kicking wasn't as good as it can be and that allowed the Sharks to stay in our half and we lost a bit of control and territory and not playing in the right areas."  

"I think we have a lot positives to look forward to and to work from and we will continue try and improve every week", Davids added.

Sharks (8) 19 - Tries: Lourens Adriaanse, Kobus van Wyk. Penalties: Curwin Bosch (3).


Southern Kings (14) 17 - Tries: Ruan Lerm, Makazole Mapimpi. Conversions: Cronje (2). Penalty: Cronje.    

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