Director of Rugby John Dobson and captain Willie Engelbrecht are clear on the areas that need attention for DHL Western Province going forward in the Carling Currie Cup.

They went up against defending champions the Toyota Cheetahs in Bloemfontein on Saturday and the home side pulled away in the second half to claim the win. Focus now shifts to the trip to Welkom where they will be looking to register their first win of the season against the NovaVit Griffons this weekend.

Dobson and Engelbrecht gave their thoughts after the match at Toyota Stadium on Saturday.

John Dobson

On strong second half from Toyota Cheetahs...

‘In the second half, loosehead prop Cameron Dawson made a big difference for the Toyota Cheetahs and they came back very well in the scrums. But I thought we could’ve been in a better position after the opening 40 minutes. But for some reason those first 15 minutes after half-time they got on top in the scrums. It went from 10-all to 10-27 in 20 minutes, so it was a bit frustrating there.’

On crucial injury to Jean-Luc du Plessis...

‘I’m not sure he would’ve saved the game on his own because the Toyota Cheetahs played well, but Jean-Luc is a leader and a game-driver for our defence and our kicking game. Asking a youngster like Damian Markus to come on after just 15 minutes is difficult, so it had a huge impact for us. We had this plan around the kicking game, with [flyhalf] Jurie Matthee and JL alternating so our backfield went down at the same time. We aren’t dependent on one guy but he was a huge loss.’

Willie Engelbrecht

On difference after half-time...

‘We did well to stick to the plan in the first half because we knew it was going to be fast and tough in the first 20 minutes. We hung in there and when we headed to the changeroom, we felt good. We got quite a few penalties and our scrummaging was impressive, but then gave away possession unnecessarily at lineout time. We worked hard to get into the Toyota Cheetahs 22 and our strength is our mauls, so like Dobbo said, it was very frustrating.’

On what needs to improve going forward...

‘It’s small things, individual errors. Certain players, myself included, need to go back and look at themselves. We will take some time out for introspection and focus on doing our individual jobs well, and then as a team we’ll come together.’