Having claimed a one-point win in their first Carling Currie Cup game at Cape Town Stadium, DHL Western Province are determined to back that up with another one when they host Tafel Lager Griquas next week.
DHL Western Province showed great character to hold off the Cell C Sharks for a tense 32-31 victory at their new home ground on Wednesday, to move to the top of the Carling Currie Cup standings.
While there is the matter of a match against the British and Irish Lions on July 17th looming, Head Coach John Dobson said that all of his team’s focus and energy will go into their clash with the Kimberley side next Wednesday.
“We have got Tafel lager Griquas at home next Wednesday and having to go into the British and Irish Lions bubble having lost or not played well against them at home would really put us under pressure, so it is all about Griquas.
“The non-negotiable is that Tafel Lager Griquas game and that’s where all our focus will be,”he said.
While happy with the character his side showed to close out the win against their coastal rivals, Dobson knows that there is still much work to be done, with a particular emphasis on improving their performance in the set-pieces.
“We always knew this game was going to be our darkest hour interms of player strength and the team we put on the field. So to get a win against a team as good as the Cell C Sharks was a big achievement and we showed quite a bit of character.
“Tactically we were good, winning the kicking game against a good kicking team. Our enthusiasm and work-rate was great, but our errors were largely technical for example in the maul defence and the scrum.
“We weren’t scrummed, but we were penalised. It is different when you see a tractor plowing through your front row, there were a few times when we had the march on them. It was a poor set-piece in terms of discipline, I think it was five or six penalties at scrum-time which is just unheard of for us.
“It was a poor performance on the night, but I am not too worried about our scrum power.
“We had some challenges in the line-out, we were down to hooker number nine who is new. I think Reinach [Venter] did a good job for someone who hasn’t played rugby in six months, but if you throw in JJ Kotze, Andre-Hugo Venter, JD Schickerling and Salmaan Moerat to that pack I think you would see a different set-piece picture,” he said.
One thing that is still missing from their game is the influence of the Faithful and while Dobson understands the regulations in place, he admitted that it is difficult to get used to not having the passionate supporters cheering the team on.
“We are sort of getting used to it now, but it is not nice. We want to play in front of the people. We understand the circumstances, but your fans will lift you and drive you on,” he added.
