“You can’t keep on doing the same thing and expecting different results, so I will be mixing up the team substantially for the Connacht game,” said Kempson. “I have no doubt that it is now time to give other players an opportunity to see what they can do.”

The men from Port Elizabeth appeared to be on an upward trajectory when they broke their overseas duck by beating the Ospreys in Swansea in November and then delivered a highly competitive display against the Toyota Cheetahs in their home derby in January - a game they were unlucky to lose – but their recent dip in form has seen them suffer a few big defeats.

They showed a slight improvement against the Scarlets in Wales last weekend in what was shaping up to be a good contest, but the same mistakes cropped up later in the game, earning the hosts an easy win.

The penny dropped for Kempson with regard to the direction the coaches should take after their last two games abroad.

“The guys have all been given enough opportunity to stake a claim for starting berths,” said Kempson. “In the Munster game and in the back end of the Scarlets game they gave us an idea of where we need to go forward with our game.

“There have been increments of positives, particularly in the Scarlets game, but there were also too many obvious negatives.

“Against the Scarlets we were in the game until the 62nd minute, but then we made mistakes that turned the tide against us. The back end of the game is the most important part to fix.

“There is an element of conditioning but we always seem to be in the game until we need to make changes in certain positions. That is when it becomes slightly difficult, and we have spoken about it.

“Against the Cheetahs we tried to play experienced guys off the bench but that didn’t work either, so other players will get opportunities and hopefully they take them.”

With Courtney Winnaar, who played fullback against the Scarlets, ruled out with a bad ankle sprain, Masixole Banda is expected to be back in contention for selection after missing the last few matches due to personal reasons.