Kings off to a winning start

Super Rugby rookies the Southern Kings got their pre-season preparations off to a winning start, when they beat Varsity Cup outfit NMMU 28-12 in a practice match in Port Elizabeth on Tuesday.

Kings Director of Rugby Alan Solomons said he was pleased with the outing, despite a sloppy period of play that handed the students some momentum in the second half.

The match, which was divided up into quarters of 20 minutes each, with a team rotation at half-time, saw the Kings leading 21-0 after the second quarter.

NMMU then gave the Kings a good run for their money, breaking through their defence after some messy handling errors in the second half – with both Brendon Olivier and Yamkela Ngam scoring.

Solomons said the match had provided the Kings with a good base point that they could work from.

"The first 40 minutes were a bit frenetic at times and there were three or four cold tries that we didn't finish off, but overall the performance was good," Solomons said.

"In the third quarter, however, we made too many mistakes.

"We lost possession in two attacking line outs and our breakdowns need work," he added.

Solomons said the NMMU team had done well and had provided the Kings with a physical match.

"Remember, this is our first match, compared to their third and final match before taking part in the Varsity Cup next week," he said.

The scorers:

For NMMU Madibaz:

Tries: Olivier, Ngam

Con: Kretzmann

For the Southern Kings:

Tries: Strauss, Petersen, Van der Walt, Du Preez

Cons: Whitehead 3, Dunlop