Rampant Waratahs put 70 past Kings

Editor

The Waratahs gave the Kings an almighty hiding on Saturday, scoring eleven tries to win 72-10 at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.

The Waratahs gave the Kings an almighty hiding on Saturday, scoring eleven tries to win 72-10 at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth.

The Waratahs dominated from start to finish, charging to a 46-10 lead at half-time.

The visitors had the four-try bonus point secured inside the first 20 minutes and had touched down seven times – including a hat-trick from winger Cam Crawford – by the interval.

The hosts only reply came just before the break from teenage wing Sergeal Petersen, while Demetri Catrakilis added a conversion and a penalty.

The result sees the 'Tahs climb into the top half of the overall standings while the Kings are left just one point clear on the Highlanders – whom they face next week – at the foot of the table.

While the Kings showed some fight in the second half, they added no points to their total after the interval.

Israel Folau was the star of the show, scoring try and playing an influential role creating a handful few more.

It took the Australian outfit just 35 seconds to put themselves in front, with Folau breaking through and offloading to winger Crawford, who dived over for the first points of the match.

Soon after, Folau added a try of his own to stretch the gap, with Brendan McKibbin slotting over the conversion, and while Catrakilis knocked over a penalty for the hosts in the 10th minute, those were their last points until late in the first period.

The Waratahs ran rampant, with Kane Douglas, who bagged the bonus point try, Michael Hooper and Peter Betham adding five-pointers to Crawford's hat-trick.

The Kings eventually hit back through Petersen but the result was already settled.

While the Waratahs looked set to continue their relentless charge, with Dave Dennis and Betham scoring just after the half-time interval, the hosts managed to seal some of the gaps on defence.

The Kings produced a 19-minute passage of play in which they shut out their opponents, but the Waratahs burst through again in the dying stages.

Ben Volavola and Tom Kingston both dotted down before the final whistle as the Australian side picked up their first win on tour.

The scorers:

For Kings:
Try: Petersen
Con: Catrakilis
Pen: Catrakilis

For Waratahs:
Tries: Crawford 3, Folau, Douglas, Hooper, Betham 2, Dennis, Volavola, Kingston
Cons: McKibbin 5, Lucas, Foley
Pen: McKibbin

Kings: 15 George Whitehead, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Ronnie Cooke, 12 Andries Strauss (c), 11 Siyanda Grey, 10 Demetri Catrakilis, 9 Shaun Venter, 8 Jacques Engelbrecht, 7 Wimpie van der Walt, 6 Cornell du Preez, 5 Rynier Bernado, 4 Steven Sykes, 3 Kevin Buys, 2 Bandise Maku, 1 Schalk Ferreira.
Replacements: 16 Virgile Lacombe, 17 Grant Kemp, 18 David Bulbring, 19 Luke Watson, 20 Nicolas Vergallo, 21 Waylon Murray, 22 Siviwe Soyizwapi.

Waratahs: 15 Israel Folau, 14 Cam Crawford, 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12 Rob Horne, 11 Peter Betham, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Brendan McKibbin, 8 Wycliff Palu, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Dave Dennis (c), 5 Kane Douglas, 4 Sitaleki Timani, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1 Benn Robinson.
Replacements: 16 John Ulugia, 17 Paddy Ryan, 18 Will Skelton, 19 Mitchell Chapman, 20 Pat McCutcheon, 21 Matt Lucas, 22 Ben Volavola, 23 Tom Kingston.

Venue: Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)