All hail the Kings
23 Feb 2013
The Kings scored an historic Super Rugby victory in their tournament debut in Port Elizabeth.
The Kings won 22-10 in front of a crowd exceeding 30 000 against Australia’s Western Force.
What a magnificent achievement. What a wonderful night for rugby in the Southern and Eastern Cape. What a night to remember.
South Africans be proud of a team that played for themselves, their region and their country.
Hopefully now the hatred with subside.
Luke Watson, a former Grey High captain, led out the Kings and proved inspirational in the opening 30 minutes before an accidental elbow to his larynx ended his evening. His replacement Jacques Englebrecht was as imposing as every Kings player stood tall in defence to turn a 10-5 deficit into a 11-10 lead and ultimately victory.
The Kings players with Super Rugby experience like hooker Bandise Maku, lock Steven Sykes and midfielders Andries Strauss and Ronnie Cooke were outstanding but it was a local teenager, winger Sergeal Petersen, who stole the hearts with a brace of tries to be named man of the match.
Petersen was in school at Grey High just three months ago and what made the night even more monumental was the first try should go to local lad from the region’s greatest rugby institution and that the player of the night should be a product of Grey High.
Kings Director of Rugby Alan Solomons deserves every accolade, as does coach Matt Sexton.
‘It was an incredible defensive effort,’ said Solomons. ‘We turned over a lot of ball and made a lot of mistakes but they will learn at this level. But their commitment can’t be faulted. It was a huge effort.’
Kings stand in captain Andries Strauss said the players were always confident they were good enough to win.
‘We will enjoy the night, but we are a grounded unit and we know it just gets tougher with each match.’
The Kings were given no price and no chance and done no favours.
The Kings lead the South African Conference after week one and that alone is a screen shot that makes this year among the most historic in South Africa’s Super Rugby history.
The Kings were everything but an embarrassment. They were an inspiration and they deserve every bit of applause for what was achieved in Port Elizabeth on Saturday night.
No new team in the competition has ever won in their first match. That bit of history belongs to the Kings.
By Mark Keohane
944 Comments
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23 Feb 2013, 22:24 pm
@skopdiekan-448: The Kings beat the worst Aussie team at home in a pumped up first outing. What do you think will happen next game?
Also, are you worried that your Stormers will be relegated?
23 Feb 2013, 22:25 pm
@kaksioek-447: what you gonna do we fck you up next week with all your crowing and over rampant expectations.. what you gonna be singing and dancing about then?
Kings fck’d your jaundiced expectations in your glory hallelujah last bastion pompous snake eyes tonight.. how many points you back them to lose by in your wild wishfully denigrating desirous imaginations?
23 Feb 2013, 22:25 pm
@kaksioek-447:
Sorry, my mistake
You messed up 3 times more than us
23 Feb 2013, 22:26 pm
@skopdiekan-442: “will be a nice little wide awake call if EP Kings and WP Stormers give you overrated guppies a little lesson in recuperating ego realignment… won’t it just.”
Didn’t you say the same thing about the Stormers beating the Bulls last week?
23 Feb 2013, 22:27 pm
Also since when were EP and WP a “team” together? Stop claiming the EP Kings win as your own, you old goat. Your team lost.
23 Feb 2013, 22:27 pm
@ShaunB-451: How muh you bet on your superbru rankings that you were hoping against all your well worked reasoning that Cheeky and Luke were going to lose by tonight… 50 points or more or less.. how many snot klap whippings were Kings going to lose by tonight…
I gonna laugh my gat off much better if Kings just by chance fck your prissy little band of money grubbing mercenaries in their pompous faces when they meet.. that will be the prettiest sight in all of rugbydom… to savor for eternity…
23 Feb 2013, 22:28 pm
@skopdiekan-452: Well, I dare say I will be quite distraught. Quite distraught indeed. I might exhale audibly, and say things like “bother” – or words to that effect. As you can imagine, it will be a dark day in the kaksioek household.
23 Feb 2013, 22:28 pm
No matter we wanna put it or what we wanna say but the kings won and deservedly so… It will get tougher but they sure will get better… Bravo 2 the kings( it was a sa side that won a aussie side)
23 Feb 2013, 22:28 pm
Actually the hooker that came in for Maku maybe better more aggressive, the no 5 plays a lot like whitelock, Sykes was good but probably still too light as a combo, Engels made a difference on coming on and engelbrecht is their star forward without a doubt , if he’s off they going to struggle.
23 Feb 2013, 22:28 pm
Sharks beaten Stormers 7 out of 10 of the last games.
Should be 8 from 11 after next weekend.
Sheer domination.
23 Feb 2013, 22:28 pm
@kaksioek-457: Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.
23 Feb 2013, 22:29 pm
@skopdiekan-380: Do you perchance have shares in the popcorn industry?
For further information please ask kaksioek.
23 Feb 2013, 22:29 pm
@skopdiekan-456: and what will you do if the Kings beat the Stormers?
23 Feb 2013, 22:30 pm
@ShaunB-446: not historically. For the next game I’ll see what’s what in two weeks. Kings it must chew you immensely.
23 Feb 2013, 22:30 pm
@skopdiekan-452: I don’t play superbru or any such nonsense. I don’t have the time.
23 Feb 2013, 22:31 pm
@mpundulu-464: not really. I only worry about my own team and then like to see the Stormers lose? It’s not all about the Kings
23 Feb 2013, 22:31 pm
@BrumbiesBoy-462:
23 Feb 2013, 22:32 pm
I don’t do superbru either. waste of time.
23 Feb 2013, 22:32 pm
Skop, I told Transie weeks ago I thought they would win a couple, in particular today.
Then after the warm up games, especially the loss to Griquas, I backed out and thought they are in serious trouble.
That result totally threw me and I went for the Force and although I didn’t get the points, I am glad they won.
Not that it would have made a difference this week, only got the Sharks and Brumbies right.
23 Feb 2013, 22:33 pm
Who’s claiming.. I been backing the Kings since year dot… Kings is a fairy tale coming true.. unlike you bunch of misfit glory boy money grubbing cn’ts from your last bastion of soccer playing fraternity…. Kings at least are true bred rugby players unlike you bunch of bought in mercenaries..
The true hero of rugby today were those like Sykes, Watson and Petersen and Engelbrecht etc.. they stood head and shoulders taller than those fakearse money gravitating sharkshits who opt for the mercenary masticating mega monopoly and sell their souls to professional profiteering…
All hail Kings.. the winners of virtue.. fck these pompous inverted last bastion pricks who were wishing them the worst before they ran on the field today…
23 Feb 2013, 22:35 pm
May the Kings beat the Stormers. All hail them.
23 Feb 2013, 22:36 pm
Leister stuffing Saracens up
23 Feb 2013, 22:36 pm
and if the Kings beat the Stormers ten we will see how happy go lucky these Stormers are about the Kings then…..
23 Feb 2013, 22:37 pm
Actually I reckon I was the only one that woulda picked the kings tonight, despite all the crowing on here, but this was a very fortunate team to get first up – the other Saffa teams would’ve home hard to drill them after the ******** comments and the force are depleted – its still a good force team but there was always going to be huge emotion in this game for the kings – they need more depth, but the win will do very well for confidence. Talk of beating the Brumbies is purely idiotic bravado from someone whose been proven wrong by whites teams on countless occasions.
23 Feb 2013, 22:37 pm
@kaksioek-465: you laughing up this sharkshit punk piece of trash backside.. that shows a whole lot about your true overriding sentiments and what it is you actually stand for in life… pompous bunch of last bastion fckwit creeps .. your empire went out with queen Victoria.. the new generation is here to take your sharkshit pompous divide and rule places.. all those EP players playing for sharkshits should be playing for their home team just like Sykes did tonight and you fckwits would be relegated back where you belong playing soccer in amazing Amazulu colors of preening pomposity…
23 Feb 2013, 22:38 pm
the Stormers possess such hate for the Sharks! Why?
23 Feb 2013, 22:40 pm
@skopdiekan-470: Watson made his Super Rugby debut for the Sharks. The Kings’ stand-in captain, Andries Strauss, is also a former Shark – as is Sykes. But the Sharks are villians and the Kings are heroes … I see. It’s confusing, but I’ll ponder it.
23 Feb 2013, 22:40 pm
No one has mentioned the Lions.
They must be in a bit of shock, I suppose Ackerman and Co. are having an emergency strategy meeting right now.
23 Feb 2013, 22:41 pm
England invented both soccer and rugby, they imported both forms if the game, via Liz’s empire to the dominions of, and whats more is that the eastern cape is truly the original 1820 settler inhabitant of the emigrating Pomeranian. They brought the natives to heel during the Xhosa wars.
23 Feb 2013, 22:41 pm
@cab-474: you reckon you the only one…
Force gave a pretty good account of themselves last week against a very highly rated Melbourne Rebels who sported the likes of Higginbotham, Phipps, O’ Connor, Beale etc… and Kings fck’d them up against all these wishful thinking bunch of Sharkshit creeps desires wishing them the absolute worst.. expecting 50 point plus hidings … which had it transpired you would have seen these snake eyed cn’ts like ShaunB and the rest of these sharkshit scum reveling in the glorification of their anti Watson anti Kings sentiments…
23 Feb 2013, 22:42 pm
Kings surprise me.
I have to admit. Congratulations.
The question is … how bad is these Force this year after losing David Pocock.
We shall see in the next 3 weeks.
The win is good for the team and crowd.
Luckily no red face for SA rugby.
Sergeal Peterson lot of talent … 2012 SA Schools and a best 10.55 in 100 meters. Represent South Africa Juniors in 100m.
23 Feb 2013, 22:43 pm
@skopdiekan-475: Well, the Stormers were relegated for a year – 1997 – so you know what that feels like. But I remember you saying you weren’t much of a fan of the Cape and the Stormers since you moved to Egoli. Bit fickle that.
23 Feb 2013, 22:45 pm
480 skopdieballas
Yes I think so afterall I distinctly remember u saying how they going to get hammered after they were hammered by the lions or griquas or someone preseason – ask transie to dig it out but please continue
23 Feb 2013, 22:47 pm
so how come these rugby players are not allowed to move (according to skopishit) and yet he is allowed to move from CT to Jhb?
Like most things, this old goat is the essence of hypocrisy.
23 Feb 2013, 22:48 pm
@kaksioek-477: Luke Watson is a true South African hero.. where all you feeble cn’ts hiding out these days.. in Pomeranian last bastion colonialist empirical hideaways like Goolongone Woolly Wollongong Wallabie country…Watson carried your sharkshit team on his broad shoulders alone in 2005 when your useless last bastion setup were floundering under the yoke of professionalism…
Watson is a true SA hero..and pisswilly whitey is righty sharkshit creeps like ShaunB and MikeH and the rest of the antithesis to the fairy tale that is EP Kings frail purpose for the uplift of indigenous EP South African rugby awakening is alien to your pompous last bastion denigrating deliriousness.
23 Feb 2013, 22:48 pm
skopishit said the Kingshits were going to get smashed to shitbits. now he has forgotten that.
23 Feb 2013, 22:49 pm
The most obvious quality of the Kings from tonight’s match is that they played with on-field intelligence. Neither the Bulls nor Stormers possess this quality. They are not coached, they are trained. Hats off to the coaching staff of the Kings in selecting players that can read a game and allowing them to play the game as it unfolds.
The rubbish that was dished up at Loftus last night underlined the terminal illness in our rugby.
23 Feb 2013, 22:50 pm
puke twatson is a prat
23 Feb 2013, 22:53 pm
Die man weer in die spieel vanoggend gekyk en sy eie dag weer op gevok?
23 Feb 2013, 22:54 pm
@kaksioek-482: whats fickle about recognizing certain insular and desperate separatist exclusive tendencies like and this ShaunB cn’t are emanating here..??
I said I was enjoying being in Jozi my old youthful stomping grounds and recognizing the cosmopolitan and freer social and societal atmosphere while I was there for a brief spell in my sojourn on this planet…
I been a WP supporter long enough to stick with them through thick and thin… but that does not preclude me from hailing the spirit of enterprise and hope that EP Kings showing in spite of all your feeble anti Watson anti progress and dumb fck exclusive insular arsecreep Sharkshit last bastion of pompous white enclave sentiments…
23 Feb 2013, 22:55 pm
I’m not sure hero is the right word at all.
Captain of the kings, couple of good offloads and then off for most of the game, I think it was 10-5 to force before engelbrecht came on and got some much needed go-forward, which was somewhat ironically why white picked burger and tge other loosefirwards over Watson in the first place. I think he could be good surrounded by a big pack and 2 big loosies but well see if he’s slowed up this year.
23 Feb 2013, 22:56 pm
@mpundulu-443: Yes, the lily white Kings will show those racists what they are truly made of!
23 Feb 2013, 22:58 pm
Let’s take a look at the Stormers team that lost (rather pathetically) to the Bulls:
15. Jaco Taute (Former Lion, born in Springs)
14. Gio Aplon
13. Jean de Villiers (captain)
12. Damian de Allende
11. Bryan Habana (Former Lion and Bull, born in JHB)
10. Elton Jantjies (Former Lion, but born in Graaff-Reinet – surely he should play for the Kings)
9. Nic Groom (Born in King Williams Town – oh dear, another poached King)
8. Duane Vermeulen (Former Cheetah, born in Nelspruit)
7. Rynhardt Elstadt (Born in JHB)
6. Siya Kolisi (Born in Zwide – born to be a King)
5. Andries Bekker
4. De Kock Steenkamp
3. Pat Cilliers (Former Shark and Lion, born in Pietermaritzburg)
2. Deon Fourie (Born in Pretoria)
1. Steven Kitshoff (Ginger)
A bit mercenary, wouldn’t you say Skop?
23 Feb 2013, 22:59 pm
awesome week !!
23 Feb 2013, 22:59 pm
@kwas-492: hehehe i did comment earlier it was a very pale team! Only thing black about them was their unoriginal strip!
23 Feb 2013, 23:01 pm
I said at the beginning of the warm up matches the pity is that Kings were not given the wherewithal to withstand a full season of attrition at this level of rugby.. they were thrown into the deep end and expected to sink and swim without the safety net that Sharks and Bulls and Lions and Cheetahs and Stormers were given in all their years of coming last and losing….
I never said Kings would lose against Force.. I watched Force give Rebels a good test last week and expected a hard and tough encounter for Kings tonight.. But Kings played above themselves and Solomons and his Kiwi coach have shown how you take a very raw team of pretty much nobodies and give them belief and spirit and direction and very good coaching..
@Suidkapenaar-487: is 100% correct Kings played with a passion and an ability to read the script and the strategy of the game plan way in advance of the garbage that Bulls and Stormers dished up yesterday.. Kings coaching is far ahead of the derelict degeneracy that traditional SA rugby is still stuck fast and entrenched in.
23 Feb 2013, 23:01 pm
@kaksioek-493: don’t forget Peter Grant, Maritzburg, who will be flying in soon.
Mercenaries? What mercenaries?
23 Feb 2013, 23:02 pm
check the old goat backtracking now
23 Feb 2013, 23:03 pm
Well done Kings Great team win Congrats
23 Feb 2013, 23:03 pm
Jaque Fourie was the ultimate mercenary in the Cape…
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