How the PRO14's whipping boys helped produce two World Cup winners
It may have been apt that the various Rugby World Cup winning Springboks’ trophy tour of the two major Eastern Cape cities should coincide with the Isuzu Southern Kings’ frontier-breaking first overseas win in the Guinness PRO14.
The Kings hung on in atrocious weather conditions to pip the Ospreys 16-14 in Swansea on Saturday night, with Howard Mnisi’s men relying on a similar willingness of players working for each other, which drove the solid and gutsy defensive effort that won them the game, to that which took the Boks to their third World Cup title the week before.
The Bok squad that paraded the Webb Ellis trophy through the East London streets on Saturday and the Port Elizabeth suburbs on Sunday includes several important members who were spawned in the Eastern Cape, serving as a reminder of just how important the region remains to South African rugby and how necessary it is to have top class rugby in the region.
While coach Rassie Erasmus, schooled in Despatch, and skipper Siya Kolisi, born in King Williams Town and schooled in Port Elizabeth, are prime examples of the gold that can come out of the Eastern Cape, the Kings in their relatively short history have also played a strong role in providing key personnel for higher honours.
You won’t see the Kings name inscribed next to the two star Bok backline players Lukhanyo Am and Makazole Mapimpi in the match programmes ahead of international games because both players now represent the Sharks out of Durban.
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But both of them cut their first class teeth at the Kings. Mapimpi’s interesting story, with his career being ignited when former Kings coach Deon Davids spotted him playing out of East London for Border Bulldogs, is quite well known. Few have made as quite a dramatic first impression as Mapimpi did when he played for the Kings in their last season of Super Rugby and it was off that foundation that his career was launched.
The first Springbok try scorer in a World Cup final, and what a role Am played in the build-up to that try, was a prolific try scorer for the Kings before being lured away from the Eastern Cape first to the Cheetahs, where he also did well in the Guinness PRO14, before moving to the Sharks.
A lot of work goes into @fafdeklerk 's golden locks…@Jono__Ross serves up his scrumhalf teammate and talks salary cap, crime in his native SA and living in 'small' Manchester
– as told to @heagneyl 👨💼https://t.co/4NTCIzl4wX
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 10, 2019
Am was already contracted to the Sharks when he played for the Kings on loan, but learned a lot playing for the Eastern Cape team and much of the fine attacking edge he has to his game would have been developed there.
The Eastern Cape influence in the Bok squad doesn’t end with the two players though. Mzwandile Stick, the assistant coach who has contributed strongly to Erasmus’ success story after initially being released after one year working under previous Bok coach Allister Coetzee, first showed his potential as a coach working for the Kings. Video operator Lindsey Weyer was also previously at the Kings, as was the Bok team doctor Konrad von Hagen, who served under Coetzee (by the way, another son of the Eastern Cape) before continuing when Erasmus took over as coach.
Aki is returning to the contracting table emboldened by his much-enhanced CV and feeling very much entitled to a new IRFU funded central contract. Yet in Munster money is being readied for Bok superstars
– writes @heagneyl 👨💼https://t.co/MsaN8jO8Ut
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 10, 2019
Will the Kings provide further key personnel on the playing field or in the management going forward? It is hard to tell, but their win over the Ospreys was a significant moment in the development of a franchise that is still rebuilding after being was decimated by player departures a few years back but which, with good long-term planning, could build into the formidable force they were threatening to become a few years ago.
– PRO14/Brendan Nel
In a country where rugby is king, high schools are breeding grounds for future rugby talent that the sporting world acknowledges to be the most plentiful on the planet.
Comments on RugbyPass
I agree ..come on keyboard warriors and journalists looking for a cheap win ….. only 2 mins to go 12 points down …this DID NOT decide the game and beside JM was hit after the whistle and in response it was a pat on the back of the head …harmless ….watch soccer if this is your issue
4 Go to commentsRest is for namby pamby sissies, I see. True men should overcome their trifling injuries by playing week in, week out. Bidwell’s stance reminds me of a Jon Gadsby character from the 70s, a rugby captain giving an after-match speech: “It was a very physical contest. One of our players caught a boot on the back of his head in a ruck, and he died, actually. But to his credit, he played on.”
1 Go to commentsI still see nothing in Sotutus play that hes changed his upright running style that failed so many times against decent international defences like the french. Other than that… Iose? Well you have covered his limitations well. If Sititi had been playing the the season… Jacobson? Grace?…Neither shout pick me. So Ardie it is.
1 Go to commentsThere isn’t one element you mentioned there that every top class or successful team gets up to. The great All blacks sides used to play on the ‘fringes or edge’ but it was essentially saying they were doing something illegal or borderline to gain dominance. The fine margins at the top are minute between the top sides. La Rochelle, the crusaders, Saracens, Toulon etc etc…..have all been accused. Get over it, the comment comes across as salty and naive. Northampton as well as they played to get back into the match were thoroughly beaten and controlled for 60 minutes and Leinster have only themselves to blame for kicking it away and hence losing control of the match and being nearly the architects of their own downfall.
2 Go to commentsThere is some talent coming thru thats for sure. The 10 looks special to me. Rico Simpson is a name to look for in the future.
1 Go to commentsI think this quiet honestly is just an innocent misunderstanding by someone who is pig sh*t stupid. Eben is a fine player but by christ, if he can’t understand or get what the Irish players were trying to say to him after the match…..well i hope he has someone looking after his finances, career and is reading the fine print for him, cause life after rugby may be quite difficult for the vacuous echo chamber.
27 Go to commentsIt could be Doris' day!
3 Go to commentsThe whole thing has blown up because Eben’s words have clearly struck a nerve in Ireland. Otherwise they would just laugh it off. I think some former Irish players, commentators and some Irish fans know deep down this Ireland team started to believe its own press and that a certain amount of arrogance had started to creep in during the World Cup. The topic was actually brought up by Irish pundits on Off the Ball recently. It’s fine to be arrogant if you can back it up. Ireland didn’t.
27 Go to comments‘The Irish are good people'. Why is Goode praising a people who hate his own? Wet wipe.
27 Go to commentsLa mejor final que se puede ver en el emisferio norte.
1 Go to commentsA lot of cope from south africans in the comments. Etzebeth is a liar and a hypocrite; you don’t have to defend him!
27 Go to commentsHe got big and really slow for a flyhalf…not sure he’s relevant in a bok conversation anymore
4 Go to commentsBest tourney team vs best team in the regular season for 3 games in RSA - talk is cheap, let’s see what’s what on the tour
27 Go to commentsOne overlooked statistic from their 2016 winning season is the Huricanes are still the only team in Super rugby history not to concede a try during the playoff rounds.
4 Go to commentsThanks for the article, Nick. The Nienaber blitz D does ask a lot of its scrumhalf. I have been watching JGP on D and he often looks like he has mastered what Nienaber asks for better than Faf de Klerk and Cobus Reinach! 🤣 Impressive season by JGP if I must make an understatement.
22 Go to commentsOkay last one. I promise. I think it’s despicable for Andy Goode to suggest that Eben can’t count to 12. To be fair he only had to count to 8 - the number of Irishmen who DIDN’T say that. Less the 3 kiwis of course. 23 - 12 - 3 = 8. See Joe. I can do maffs.
27 Go to commentsCheers, Nick! How do you see the Reds’ Jock Campbell’s play this year? Not as strong a carrier as Andrew Kellaway or Tom Wright, but does avoid errors. Do you see Joe Schmidt as wanting safety first at 15 or a try-assisting counterattacker?
91 Go to commentsI’m sure this was all just a big misunderstanding. Irishmen and Afrikaaners conversing in a noisey stadium. Not easy to get the right messages across. A minefield.
27 Go to commentsSay what you will about Andy Goode. But he is right about one thing… I’m not sure what that one thing is exactly… but I’m willing to hear him out.
27 Go to commentsAnother article to bait and trigger Irish fans. This must stop.
27 Go to comments