The Kings beat the Sunwolves 37-23 in Singapore on Saturday to clinch their first win of the season, writes MARIETTE ADAMS.
It wasn’t pretty, but in the context of the Kings’ season it was a massive result on the road for coach Deon Davids’ men. The Sunwolves were gutsy in defence, but squandered so many attacking opportunities, posing the question, if they can’t win a battle against the Kings at home, who are they going to beat this season?
Both sides came into this clash on the back of heavy defeats in the opening round of the competition. The Kings bombed out against the Jaguares, who won 36-26 in Port Elizabeth, while the Sunwolves were humiliated 83-17 by the high-flying Hurricanes in Tokyo. Both teams would have seen this game as an opportunity to shake the ‘worst team in Super Rugby’ tag.
Despite losing the service of scrumhalf Louis Schreuder soon after kick-off due to a suspected broken nose, the Kings opened what proved to be an unassailable 10-3 lead.
Journeyman Lionel Cronjé slotted a penalty before replacement scrumhalf Rudi van Rooyen scored under the posts.
With the Sunwolves on attack inside the opposition 22, Kings captain Schalk Ferreira came up with a big play when he manufactured a turnover and released Malcolm Jaer down the left flank. The fleet-footed wing drew two defenders and put Van Rooyen away for the try.
The Kings would get on the board when Waylon Murray was caught in possession and conceded a penalty. Spotting space out wide, experienced scrumhalf Fumiaki Tanaka took a quick tap and threw a skip pass in the lead-up to Timothy Lafaele’s try.
But the Kings were not flustered as they nullified Lafaele’s try with one of their own through replacement lock Chris Cloete for a 10-point lead at the interval.
The action dwindled in the opening quarter of the second half, as the only points came from the boots of Cronjé and Hayden Cripps, who traded penalties for a 23-13 scoreline.
But there was a flurry of tries towards the end of the game. Kings duo Ruaan Lerm and Malcolm Jaer breached the Sunwolves’ defence to score on either side of Kenki Fukuoka’s five-pointer as the visitors all but sealed the result.
The Sunwolves would have the final say in the match, though, when Takaaki Nakuzuru ran in a consolation effort.
Sunwolves – Tries: Timothy Lafaele, Kenki Fukuoka, Takaaki Nakazuru. Conversion: Hayden Cripps. Penalties: Cripps (2).
Kings – Tries: Rudi van Rooyen, Chris Cloete, Ruaan Lerm, Malcolm Jaer. Conversions: Lionel Cronjé (4). Penalties: Cronjé (3).
Sunwolves – 15 Shota Emi, 14 Takaaki Nakazuru, 13 Timothy Lafaele, 12 Derek Carpenter, 11 Kenki Fukuoka, 10 Hayden Cripps, 9 Fumiaki Tanaka, 8 Willie Britz, 7 Shokei Kin, 6 Ed Quirk, 5 Sam Wykes, 4 Liaki Moli, 3 Heiichiro Ito, 2 Shota Horie (c), 1 Masataka Mikami.
Subs: 16 Takeshi Hino, 17 Koki Yamamoto, 18 Takuma Asahara, 19 Kotaro Yatabe, 20 Shuhei Matsuhashi, 21 Keisuke Uchida, 22 Will Tupou, 23 Jamie-Jerry Taulagi.
Kings – 15 Masixole Banda, 14 Makazole Mapimpi, 13 Berton Klaasen, 12 Waylon Murray, 11 Malcolm Jaer, 10 Lionel Cronjé, 9 Louis Schreuder, 8 Ruaan Lerm, 7 Stefan Willemse, 6 Andisa Ntsila, 5 Mzwanele Zito, 4 Tyler Paul, 3 Ross Geldenhuys, 2 Michael Willemse, 1 Schalk Ferreira (c).
Subs: 16 Kurt Haupt, 17 Schalk van der Merwe, 18 Justin Forwood, 19 Thembelani Bholi, 20 Chris Cloete, 21 Rudi van Rooyen, 22 Pieter-Steyn de Wet, 23 Luzuko Vulindlu.
Photo: Lionel Ng/Getty Images
