Head coach Allister Coetzee worked his team hard at the HPC on Monday, as DHL Western Province began their preparations for the second last round of Absa Currie Cup league action this coming weekend.

Province went down 9-22 to the defending champion MTN Golden Lions at DHL Newlands on Saturday, but they will have a chance to atone for that defeat when they head to Loftus Versfeld on Friday evening.

Speaking after Monday’s first training session, ahead of their big clash against the Blue Bulls (kick-off 19h10), Coetzee admitted: “Normally the players get over the disappointment of a weekend defeat, but this time the players were still a bit perplexed by their performance.

“It’s hard to accept that we conceded so many turnovers when we dominated territorially and had so much possession (against the Lions). Normally we can bank on our line-outs but we lost our way there too at times, although I must add that the Lions excelled with their competitiveness.

“We managed to create scoring opportunities, but then we made poor decisions and we also did not show enough respect for the ball. You cannot win a game in this tournament if you play the way we did and make so many mistakes… ultimately, those unforced errors were the killer,” said Coetzee.

“But the one good thing is that the players acknowledged that they were not up to standard and they accepted their mistakes. We spoke about consistency; you can’t get it right one week and not the next – that’s the chat we’ve had. That’s been dealt with and, like I said, the players understand it.”

Looking ahead to the challenge of facing the bottom-of-the-log Blue Bulls – who have it all to play for at this stage of the season – Coetzee commented: “They’re definitely a desperate side and I can tell you that they’ll come out firing in what will be a tough game for us.

“The Bulls are a proud union, this is unfamiliar territory for them. We really expect nothing less than the game of the season for them. It’s a big challenge and it’s one we’re looking forward to.”

Meanwhile, Coetzee revealed that fullback/wing Gio Aplon would remain sidelined with a sprained ankle for just another two weeks.

However, flyhalf Gary van Aswegen (ankle), who picked up his injury at team training last week Wednesday, faces a 16-week lay-off.