Southern Kings v Western Force – who will win?

The Southern Kings are set to make their Super Rugby debut when they take on the Western Force in PE on Saturday, 23 February 2013, but the men from Perth will be happy to spoil the party.

The Kings somewhat controversial road to the Super Rugby scene has left fans wondering if they’re up for the challenge, but the side has some undeniable talent in the team.

Luke Watson will obviously be the focus of the Kings’ actions, as he’ll need to lead his men in attack and defence. Despite many criticisms, Watson has always been a strong loose forward who has proved himself in Super Rugby and the English Premiership before.

Other notable Kings include Bandise Maku, who had a great season with the Lions, proving his worth in the lineouts, scrums and set-pieces.

Demetri Catrakilis will also have a lot on his shoulders, as the 23-year old will look to follow up his match-winning performance from the 2012 Currie Cup final.

The bench will need to be utilised by the Kings, as Kiwi import Hadleigh Parkes and Kenyan man-mountain Daniel Adongo can make a strong impact if brought on at the right time.

While the Force may have lost to the Rebels in the opening round of the competition, there were a lot of positives to be taken out of the match.

The Force forwards can look to the likes of Ben McCalman, Chris Alcock and Sam Wykes, under the leadership of Pek Cowan, to dominate the tight encounters.

Another area of focus for the Force will require the team to be more clinical in defence, watching the outside channels and closing down support runners – something they failed to do against the Rebels.

Kyle Godwin was a standout performer last week, and the young centre definitely has some attacking abilities that can be exploited in space.

Alfie Mafi will also need to look to continue his early try-scoring form, and make sure he’s on the end of some mid-field attacks and wide set-plays.

While the Southern Kings may look like the underdogs due to their Super Rugby inexperience, the PE team won’t go down easily. That said, the Western Force did impress against the Rebels (despite the loss), and should let their revitalised backline do the talking.

Southern Kings team:

15 SP Marais, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Ronnie Cooke, 12 Andries Strauss, 11 Marcello Sampson, 10 Demetri Catrakilis, 9 Shaun Venter, 8. Luke Watson (c), 7. Wimpie van der Walt, 6. Cornell du Preez, 5. Steven Sykes, 4 David Bulbring, 3 Kevin Buys, 2 Bandise Maku, 1 Schalk Ferreira

Replacements: 16 Edgar Marutlulle, 17 Jaco Engels, 18 Daniel Adongo, 19 Jacques Engelbrecht, 20 Johan Herbst, 21 George Whitehead, 22 Hadleigh Parkes

Western Force team:

(Starting 15 TBC)

Chris Alcock, Richard Brown, Nathan Charles, Sam Christie, Angus Cottrell, Pek Cowan, Nick Cummins, Patrick Dellit, Sias Ebersohn, Tetera Faulkner, Kyle Godwin, Jayden Hayward, Matt Hodgson, Kieran Longbottom, Toby Lynn, Salesi Ma’afu, Alfie Mafi, Alby Mathewson, Ben McCalman, Hugh McMeniman, Junior Rasolea, Mick Snowden, Winston Stanley, Heath Tessmann, Will Tupou, Sam Wykes.

Rugby Informer take: The Western Force’s attack looked sharp against the Rebels, and if the squad can reproduce that intensity and continuity, they should overcome the Kings. Western Force by 13.