DHL Western Province know that they will face a completely different challenge against the iCollege Pumas in Nelspruit next week from their opening victory against Toyota Free State Cheetahs in torrential rain at DHL Newlands.

The defending Currie Cup champions got their title defence off to a convincing start on Saturday, adapting well to the wet conditions at DHL Newlands to pick up a bonus point 32-0 victory.

While very pleased with the way his team handled things to shut the Free State side out, Head Coach John Dobson knows that they face an altogether different challenge against an iCollege Pumas side that beat DHL Western Province in Nelspruit last year.

“We know that it is going to be a completely different game, the Pumas are an outlier in South African rugby in terms of how they play.

“Memories of last year in Nelspruit will serve us in good stead, we know it is a completely different challenge, the conditions and how they play,” he said.

Dobson was happy with his team’s tactical approach at DHL Newlands, with their kicking game and contesting in the line-outs putting the Toyota Free State Cheetahs under serious pressure.

“We were tactically very good and our ball security in those conditions was commendable. The guys made really good decisions in contact.

“I thought Josh [Stander] and SP Marais were outstanding with their kicking game. They didn’t just kick contestables, which is what you usually do in the wet, they went for a bit more distance and put the pressure on the Cheetahs to return it.

“I think one of the great elements of our performance was our contesting, we put their line-out under a lot of pressure and without that we couldn’t kick like that,” Dobson explained.

Captain on the night Dillyn Leyds admitted that they were some of the worst conditions he has ever played in.

“They had a scrum in our 22 and it started coming down pretty hard. Myself and SP were on the outside and we just looked at each other and said ‘do we really have to keep playing here?’

“It was pretty tough out there, but we stayed true to what we said we would do. We stayed calm and didn’t try to do anything out of the ordinary. In tough conditions like that the boys really showed a lot of fight and a lot of character,” he said.

The only injury concern from their opening game surrounds lock Salmaan Moerat who took a knock to the head and is being assessed for concussion.