Meetings between Isuzu Southern Kings and Toyota Cheetahs are always hotly-contested as the two sides look to take bragging rights over their rival South African outfits. The pair have played out some engrossing clashes over the years, firstly in Super Rugby and then after joining the Guinness PRO14 in 2018. Last February’s high-scoring encounter followed the script as Cheetahs held off a spirited Kings effort to secure a hard-earned victory. Ahead of the two sides facing off at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday, let’s take a look back at that most recent between the pair. Cheetahs 40-36 Southern Kings, Toyota Stadium, February 2, 2019 Despite Kings taking the lead though a Masixole Banda penalty, Cheetahs looked set to ease to a commanding win after a dominant start to the match. The home side responded to the early setback with three unanswered tries as first scrum-half Shaun Venter touched down before Tian Schoeman and William Small-Smith added tries of their own. Schoeman slotted two of his three conversion attempts to give his side a 19-3 lead which, in truth, they were good value for. However, the game turned on the cusp of half-time when Cheetahs saw hooker Joe Dweba and winger Small-Smith sent to the sin bin. CJ Velleman made the most of the numerical advantage with Kings’ first try and Banda added the extras to leave the score at 19-10 going into the interval.
