Kings grab just second win of PRO14 season in dramatic style
The Southern Kings scored two tries in two minutes to record a sensational come-from-behind win over Edinburgh in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.
The 25-21 victory, at the Madibaz Stadium, was only their second win of the season amd only their third since joining the league in 2017.
Having held a 13-7 lead at half-time, the Kings saw the Scottish visitors take a 21-13 lead – with a penalty try (in the 61st minute) and a score by Ross Ford (71st minute).
However, a double strike by new import Bader-Werner Pretorius in the 75th minute (after having just come on as a replacement for his Pro14 debut) and Yaw Penxe (a move that started deep inside his own 22-metre area, from the restart) gave the Kings a sensational win.
The Kings started brilliantly through Bjorn Basson’s individual effort but Edinburgh soon fired back through centre Chris Dean.
The Scots dominated the middle portion of the match and went ahead with a second-half penalty try, followed up with a score for hooker Ross Ford.
But the Kings had other ideas.
The home side started like a train and got the first try in the opening minutes as Basson executed a wonderful bit of skill down the left flank.
Attacking from just inside the Edinburgh half Basson took a pass out wide, chipped in-field to beat the defence and then touched down for an excellent score.
Masixole Banda kicked the extras, but Edinburgh would fire back almost immediately – going through phase after phase in the opposition 22 before a delightful inside pass found centre Chris Dean to do the rest.
Van der Walt kicked the conversion, followed by a penalty at the other end, with Edinburgh enjoying most of the possession for the rest of the half – only for Banda to kick three more points before the break.
The Kings led 13-7 at the interval, but Edinburgh continued to press in the second half, almost getting over from short range through Pietro Ceccarelli only for a knock-on to be given.
The Kings defence held out impressively but was dealt a blow on the hour as blindside flank Cyril Velleman saw yellow and Edinburgh were awarded a penalty.
The South African side had made 180 tackles at this stage as the Scots opted for a scrum, eventually being rewarded with a penalty try to put them 14-13 ahead.
Edinburgh’s dominance continued and they used forward power for their third try, driving off a line-out until Ford was able to snipe over the line from short distance.
The Kings though weren’t done there and attacked in the final 10 minutes, with replacement Pretorius powering over with just four minutes on the clock.
From the restart the try of the game was still to come, with the Kings receiving the restart and immediately passing wide to another substitute – Meli Rokoua.
Rokoua stepped inside to beat the defence and flew to the halfway line before offloading out the back of his hand to Penxe, who stepped up the pace a notch further and blasted in to the tryline for a famous win.
FT | It's a disappointing evening as the Southern Kings score two last gasp tries to get the win in Port Elizabeth. [25-21]#KINvEDI | #AlwaysEdinburgh ?? pic.twitter.com/jGWo8IqYpP
— Edinburgh Rugby (@EdinburghRugby) January 26, 2019
The scorers
For the Southern Kings:
Tries: Basson, Pretorius, Penxe
Cons: Banda 2
Pens: Banda 2
For Edinburgh:
Tries: Dean, Penalty try, Ford
Cons: Van der Walt 2, penalty try does not require a conversion
Yellow cards: Cyril Velleman (Southern Kings, 61 – repeated infringements, collapsing maul), James Johnstone (Edinburgh, 76 – cynical foul, killing the ball at ruck)
Teams:
Southern Kings: 15 Masixole Banda, 14 Yaw Penxe, 13 Harlon Klaasen, 12 Tertius Kruger, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Ntabeni Dukisa, 9 Stefan Ungerer, 8 Andisa Ntsila, 7 Martinus Burger, 6 Cyril John Velleman, 5 John-Charles Astle (captain), 4 Andries Van Schalkwyk, 3 Luvuyo Pupuma, 2 Michael Willemse, 1 Schalk Ferreira/Alulutho Tshakweni.
Replacements: 16 Alandre Van Rooyen, 17 Lupumlo Mguca, 18 Alulutho Tshakweni/Nicolaas Oosthuizen, 19 Stephan Greeff, 20 Henry Brown, 21 Sarel Pretorius, 22 Bader Pretorius, 23 Meli Rokoua.
Edinburgh: 15 Dougie Fife, 14 Tom Brown, 13 George Taylor, 12 Chris Dean, 11 James Johnstone, 10 Jaco van der Walt, 9 Henry Pyrgos, 8 Viliame Mata, 7 Ally Miller, 6 Luke Crosbie, 5 Callum Hunter-Hill, 4 Fraser McKenzie (captain), 3 Pietro Ceccarelli, 2 David Cherry, 1 Pierre Schoeman.
Replacements: 16 Ross Ford, 17 Darryl Marfo, 18 Murray McCallum, 19 Jamie Hodgson, 20 Mungo Mason, 21 Nathan Fowles, 22 Simon Hickey, 23 Juan Pablo Socino.
Referee: Dan Jones (Wales)
Assistant referees: Stuart Berry (South Africa), Ruhan Meiring (South Africa)
TMO: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)
Comments on RugbyPass
Hey Finn, Well done to the Junior Wallabies…a win is a win but it was a wet and scrappy game. Would be interesting to hear your opinion on two things from watching the game at the Not So Sunny Coast Stadium. Firstly, what is your opinion on the rule change of being able to call The Mark from a kick off and what is the reason for the change? Secondly, your thoughts on the lack of action for the high tackle on the SA fullback. I understand the TMO ruled that he had fallen into the tackle and the tackler didn’t have time to adjust but it was clearly shoulder on head and the Aussie 11 had not made any attempt to adjust his tackle height leading into the tackle. In my opinion he was never going to get his tackle technique correct to complete a safe tackle. If that tackle was made at a more senior and more scrutinised level would we have seen the same result?
2 Go to commentsI don’t think this has been ventilated enough. Discuss. Perhaps the lessons in all of this is that, in the game of life, one should do all the talking on the field of play. And in the game of rugby, what’s said on the field - stays on the field. Take care of yourselves. And each other.
31 Go to commentsLow skills compared to the Junior ABs. The ball handling and ball retention of the SAns in particular was utterly woeful. The latter will be better on home turf.
2 Go to comments1. Heard this so often over the yrs. One Warriors CEO even claimed future kids wouldnt know which came first, the ABs or the Warriors. Always keen to talk themselves up. 2. That fella Barakat who says he will drop HBHS sponsorship because HBHS quite rightly wants its players to focus on rugby is an odd fit as a sponsor in the first place. As a recruitment official for the Warriors he seems to regard his sponsorship as a paid licence to help to select players from HBHS for the league side. Maybe he should find a league school to fund.
1 Go to commentsNZ U20s are the team to beat this year for sure. And how nice after so long that NZRFU is actually taking this seriously. For far too long they have been sending woefully coached and woefully underprepared teams to the U20 WCs. That Wrampling boy is a star in the making.
2 Go to commentsI 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.
2 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.
31 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.
31 Go to comments‘The Irish are good people'. Why is Goode praising a people who hate his own? Wet wipe.
31 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!
31 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
31 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 comments