Kings send rookies into battle
Veteran prop Schalk Ferreira will lead the at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.
The starting XV will include four new Super Rugby caps in wing Makazole Mapimpi, centre Berton Klaasen and the lock pairing of Irne Herbst and Mzwanele Zito.
Davids stressed the importance of beginning the Kings' campaign on a winning start.
"For us, it is important to go out there full of confidence in ourselves and what we can bring," the coach said.
"We understand that we are playing against a quality side," he added.
"We will have to focus a lot on ourselves, in terms of what we want to bring and how we will do it.
"We are looking forward to expressing ourselves and seeing our experienced players as well as the young ones getting out there and making use of the opportunity of playing Super Rugby."
Southern Kings: 15 Chrysander Botha, 14 Makazole Mapimpi, 13 Berton Klaasen, 12 Waylon Murray, 11 Malcolm Jaer, 10 Lionel Cronje, 9 Louis Schreuder, 8 Ruaan Lerm, 7 Stefan Willemse, 6 Andisa Ntsila, 5 Mzwanele Zito, 4 Irne Herbst, 3 Ross Geldenhuys, 2 Michael Willemse, 1 Schalk Ferreira (captain).
Replacements: 16 Martin Bezuidenhout, 17 Schalk van der Merwe, 18 Chris Heiberg, 19 Tyler Paul, 20 Chris Cloete, 21 Rudi van Rooyen, 22 Masixole Banda, 23 Luzuko Vulindlu.
Date: Saturday, February 25
Venue: Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth
Kick-off: 17.15 (12.15 Argentina time; 15.15 GMT)
Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Assistant referees: AJ Jacobs (South Africa), Archie Sehlako (South Africa)
TMO: Johan Greeff (South Africa)
