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Kings not fazed by Stormers mountain

Port Elizabeth - On paper, the Kings have a mountain to climb if they are to pull off an upset against the Stormers at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday. 

Coach Deon Davids and his men are coming off the back of their first away win in Super Rugby since 2013 after they dismantled the Sunwolves 37-23 in Singapore last Saturday, but the task awaiting them this weekend is far more daunting. 

The Stormers look a side on a mission in 2017, having notched up successive wins against the Bulls and Jaguares at Newlands. 

But while Davids has plenty of respect for the men from the Cape, he does not seem overly intimidated by them.

"We all know that the Stormers is a quality side with a lot of Springboks and it's going to be a huge challenge," he said.

"But it would be a mistake for us to focus too much on the opposition and forget what we can bring to the game.

"We've got a huge respect for our opponents - it's the best competition in the world - but it's important for us to improve every week.

"We're happy with last week's performance. The guys took a big step forward in terms of overcoming certain challenges.

"The guys are looking forward to build on some good things last week and to get better in certain areas."

Captain Schalk Ferreira agreed. 

"Every time we walk onto that pitch we feel like we can represent and we play to win," he said.

"We never go out just to compete or to survive."

The match kicks off at 15:05.

Teams:

Kings

15 Masixole Banda, 14 Makazole Mapimpi, 13 Waylon Murray, 12 Luzuko Vulindlu, 11 Malcolm Jaer, 10 Lionel Cronje, 9 Rick Schroeder, 8 Riaan Lerm, 7 Themelani Bholi, 6 Chris Cloete, 5 Irne Herbst, 4 Tyler Paul, 3 Ross Geldenhuys, 2 Michael Willemse, 1 Schalk Ferreira (captain)

Substitutes: 16 Kurt Haupt, 17 Schalk van der Merwe, 18 Chris Heiberg, 19 Willem van der Sluys, 20 Andisa Ntsila, 21 Johan Steyn, 22 Pieter-Steyn de Wet, 23 Berton Klaasen

Stormers

15 SP Marais, 14 Dillyn Leyds, 13 EW Viljoen, 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Robert du Preez, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Nizaam Carr, 7 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 6 Rynhardt Elstadt, 5 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 4 Eben Etzebeth (captain), 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Oli Kebble

Substitutes: 16 Ramone Samuels, 17 JC Janse van Rensburg, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 Chris Van Zyl, 20 Jaco Coetzee, 21 Justin Phillips, 22 Kurt Coleman, 23 Damian Willemse

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