Edinburgh blank hapless Kings
MATCH REPORT: Southern Kings’ dismal Pro14 campaign has been amplified with a 0-38 defeat to Edinburgh at Murrayfield.
Darcy Graham scored a try in each corner after Dougie Fife opened the scoring to put Edinburgh three tries up in the first ten minutes.
The Kings had a mountain to climb and were able to stem the flow for a large part of the first half but Edinburgh’s formidable home form never really looked under threat.
Edinburgh raced into an early lead as Duhan van der Merwe laid the ball off for Fife to put the first points on the board followed up by a successful conversion from Simon Hickey.
Moments later the Scotsmen had two tries up as another sweeping backline attack was finished off by Graham in the corner. Hickey again adding the extras.
And the Kings’ misery was trebled after Edinburgh added a third try in the opening ten minutes.
Graham was the scorer again benefiting from patient build-up play from the backline to cross in the opposite corner and put Edinburgh fully in control of the game. Hickey’s conversion attempt dropped short this time.
The Kings, who had not taken to the pitch since their defeat to Benetton at the beginning of December, were able to stem the flow and denied Edinburgh any further scores for the next 30 minutes of rugby and the scoreline remained 19-0 right up until the clock ticked into the red.
Edinburgh ended a productive half in the same the way they started it as Rory Sutherland added a fourth try and the bonus point with the Kings unable to find any form of response by way of points.
Five minutes after the restart Edinburgh had their fifth try of the match as Simon Berghan notched his first try for the club barging his way over the line. Hickey missed his second conversion of the afternoon to keep the score at 31-0.
Cameron Fenton was called onto the bench after David Cherry picked up an injury in the warm-up and made a try-scoring impact when he came onto the field with ten minutes to play, scoring Edinburgh’s sixth. Hickey converted the resulting conversion to make it 38-0.
The scorers:
For Edinburgh:
Tries: Fife, Graham 2, Sutherland, Berghan, Fenton
Cons: Hickey 4
For Kings: None
Teams:
Edinburgh: 15 Dougie Fife, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 George Taylor, 12 Juan Pablo Socino, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Simon Hickey, 9 Nathan Fowles, 8 Viliame Mata, 7 Luke Crosbie, 6 Jamie Ritchie, 5 Callum Hunter-Hill, 4 Fraser McKenzie (captain), 3 Simon Berghan, 2 David Cherry, 1 Rory Sutherland.
Replacements: 16 Ross Ford, 17 Pierre Schoeman, 18 Pietro Ceccarelli, 19 Ben Toolis, 20 Ally Miller, 21 Charlie Shiel, 22 Jaco van der Walt, 23 James Johnstone.
Southern Kings: 15 Masixole Banda, 14 Michael Makase, 13 Harlon Klaasen, 12 Tertius Kruger, 11 Yaw Penxe, 10 Martin Du Toit, 9 Stefan Ungerer, 8 Ruaan Lerm, 7 Martinus Burger, 6 Cyril-John Velleman, 5 John-Charles Astle (captain), 4 Stephan Greeff, 3 Pieter Scholtz, 2 Alandre Van Rooyen, 1 Alulutho Tshakweni.
Replacements: 16 Michael Willemse, 17 Nicolaas Oosthuizen, 18 Luvuyo Pupuma, 19 Lubabalo Mtyanda, 20 Andries van Schalkwyk, 21 Sarel Pretorius, 22 Berton Klaasen, 23 Ntabeni Dukisa.
Referee: John Lacey (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Johnny Erskine (Ireland) Hollie Davidson (Scotland)
TMO: Andrew McMenemy (Scotland)
@Pro14Official
After a blistering start @EdinburghRugby proved too much for @SouthernKingsSA to handle as they ran out 38-0 winners at Murrayfield.
Stand out performances from Darcy Graham and Dougie Fife led to tries in the game for both backs.#GUINNESSPRO14 #EDIvKIN pic.twitter.com/87l9VlWVWI
— PRO14 RUGBY (@PRO14Official) January 5, 2019
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