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Cape Town - The Southern Kings and the Cheetahs will return to South Africa determined to bounce back from successive defeats in the PRO14 following an unsuccessful weekend in Wales.
The Southern Kings went down fighting against the Dragons in Newport, with the team suffering a narrow 27-22 defeat, while Ospreys had too much firepower for the Cheetahs as they registered a 46-14 victory in Swansea.
In Newport, the Southern Kings were left counting the cost of missed opportunities just short of the tryline against the Dragons as they went down by a heart-breaking five points.
The Port Elizabeth side trailed 14-0 in the first quarter and entered the break 17-10 down. But they fought back strongly as the match progressed to level the scores at 17-17 in the second half as Godlen Masimla raced over in the right hand corner for their second try.
The Dragons regained the lead with a penalty goal and subsequent try, but they had to work tirelessly on defence in the last 10 minutes as the Southern Kings ran hard on attack.
Winger Yaw Penxe scored on the stroke of full-time to take their score to 22 points for a losing bonus point, but they will be rueing the inability to use two golden opportunities that could have steered them to their first victory of the season and first away-win in the competition.
The Cheetahs, meanwhile, struggled to contain the hard-running Ospreys in Swansea, which saw them subside to a 46-14 defeat.
The big difference between the teams was Ospreys’ ability to create try-scoring chances and use them effectively, while the Free Stater’s battled to get close to the tryline as handling errors denied them from momentum on attack.
Their defence also let them down, which saw them concede seven tries, while they managed to score only two tries compliments of Jasper Wiese and Sibahle Maxwane.
In the other matches Connacht defeated Zebre Rugby 32-13, the Scarlets pipped Leinster 23-21 and Benetton Treviso registered a 27-25 victory against the Cardiff Blues, the Glasgow Warriors beat Munster 25-10 and Ulster held on for a 30-29 win against Edinburgh.
PRO14 Round 2 results and scorers (click on the hyperlink for the full scoresheet):
Dragons 27 (17) Southern Kings 22 (10)
Dragons - Tries: Aaron Wainwright, Ollie Griffiths, Josh Lewis. Conversions: Josh Lewis (3). Penalty Goals: Josh Lewis (2).
Southern Kings - Tries: Michael Willemse, Bjorn Basson, Yaw Penxe, Godlen Masimla. Conversions: Masixole Banda.
Ospreys 46 (22) Cheetahs 14 (7)
Ospreys - Tries: Scott Otten, Alun Wyn Jones (2), Justin Tipuric (2), George North, Alex Jeffries. Conversions: Sam Davies (4). Penalty Goal: Sam Davies.
Cheetahs - Tries: Jasper Wiese, Sibahle Maxwane. Conversions: Tian Schoeman (2).
