It may be the newest rivalry in Super Rugby, but they don’t get much more appetizing and entertaining than the Southern Kings against the Lions.

We can thank the South African Rugby Union and its bungling for creating this delectable showdown for us.

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And it is here to stay, even if only in pre-season fixtures for now.

The next episode will play out at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, in Port Elizabeth, on Saturday.

It will be devoid of the ‘rock star’ names that litter other pre-season outings, but it will have the same value as the big north-south derby (Bulls versus Stormers) in Polokwane.

The Kings’ stand-in coach, Robbie Kempson, admitted that the game entertainment value will not come in the form of big name stars.

In fact having lost a host of senior players after being knocked out of Super Rugby by the Lions in a two-match promotion-relegation series last year, the Kings now rely mostly on local youngsters.

The names in the team are talented backs like Siviwe Soyizwapi and Sergeal Petersen, with Ronnie Cooke the backline veteran. Darron Nell, who captains the team, and Steven Sykes provide the experience up front.

The Lions may have a Springbok in Franco van der Merwe, but they also can’t bank on big names to get the job done.

“They don’t have stars,” Kempson admitted in an interview with this website, ahead of Saturday’s showdown.

“However, what I have noticed about how [coach] Johan Ackermann and the Lions go about their business, is they build a very strong team ethos.

“They don’t have the rock stars that other sides have, but they have well-rounded individuals that play together as a unit.”

Kempson was very complimentary of the Lions, saying they have some “very astute” coaches and will be a very different kettle of fish to what the Cheetahs were for the Kings last week.

“They play a much more high-tempo game,” the Kings mentor told this website, adding: “From what I have seen it appears they have selected pretty much their strongest line-up and this is going to be a proper knock-up for them, as opposed to the Cheetahs who were still trying out a few things.”

He admitted that the Lions’ all-out attacking game could present the Kings with a few opportunities of their own.

“It is almost a tit-for-tat approach that they have,” Kempson said of the Lions.

“However, I feel now that they have been guaranteed [entry into] Super Rugby, they would have looked at their defence and where they can close down teams.

“But they will still bring that high-tempo game.

“With a big centre like Stefan Watermeyer, who they will likely use more as a target runner, they will have a few more options at phase play, as opposed to going wide from the start. However, certainly it will still very much be that high-tempo [game], trying to get Derick Minnie and Jaco Kriel running onto the ball at pace, creating momentum.

“The way [former All Black flyhalf] Carlos [Spencer] has worked with our backs, it might open counter-attacking opportunities for us, but they [the Lions] are a different kettle of fish to [the Cheetahs] last week.”

The Kings coach said the Lions’ approach makes defence vitally important.

“We had a few soft shoulders against the Cheetahs last week,” he said, adding: “Because the Lions are running so direct and at such high intensity, we are really going to have to put in those double hits to make a difference.

“As soon as they get that momentum going, they are a difficult side to stop.

“If we can manage to keep that at bay for a period of time, then we will make a good go of it.”

Kempson said the Kings’ goals for this week would be to fix up the areas that caused them problems in their first outing.

“The forwards were not good [against the Cheetahs] last week and we concentrated on that aspect,” he said, adding: “The Cheetahs had the upper-hand in all the set pieces.

“We concentrated in all areas, but we know the Lions are particularly strong in the driving maul.

“I feel we did well on defence, but there is always room for improvement there.

“The other part we worked on, we did very little with the ball in the second half – we need to improve on [taking] our opportunities with the ball when they come our way and keep it through the phases.”

Teams:

Southern Kings: 15 Siviwe Soyizwapi, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Ronnie Cooke, 12. Dwayne Jenner, 11 Michael Killian, 10 George Whitehead, 9 Jaco Grobler, 8 Devin Oosthuizen, 7 Darron Nell (Captain), 6 Paul Schoeman, 5 Rynier Bernardo, 4 Steven Sykes, 3 Charl du Plessis, 2 Dane van der Westhuyzen, 1 BG Uys
Replacements: JC Oberholzer, Lizo Gqboko, Vukile Sofisa, Stephan Zaayman, Stephan Greeff, Thembelani Bholi, Sonwabo Majola, Brian Skosana, Ntabeni Dukisa.

Lions: 15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Chrysander Botha, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Stefan Watermeyer, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Marnitz Boshoff, 9 Michael Bondesio, 8 Warren Whiteley (Captain), 7 Derick Minnie, 6 Jaco Kriel, 5 Franco van der Merwe, 4 Rudi Matthee, 3 Julian Redelinghuys, 2 Willie Wepener, 1 Schalk van der Merwe.
Replacements: 16 Robbie Coetzee, 17 Jacques van Rooyen, 18 Corne Fourie, 19 Willie Britz, 20 Warwick Tecklenburg, 21 Francois de Klerk, 22 Willie du Plessis, 23 JW Jonker.

Date: Saturday 1 February
Venue: Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth
Kick-off: 17:00 SA Time (15:00 GMT)
Referee: Jason Jaftha