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Team effort won the day for WP

PUBLISHED: July 16, 2013


A team effort is what won the day for the unbeaten DHL Western Province side at the 2013 Coca-Cola Under-18 Craven Week in Polokwane. So says proud coach Hein Kriek.

Kriek’s charges were the undisputed kings of Craven Week after beating the Golden Lions by 45-29 in Saturday’s exciting tournament finale – having beaten the Pumas 40-24 and the Bulls 30-6 earlier in the week.

“It’s an awesome feeling when you set goals for your team and they respond in that fashion,” said Kriek to wprugby.com on Tuesday morning. “The guys played out of their skins all week long… but, really, it was a team effort that won the day for Western Province in the end.”

Whilst WP swept all before them in Polokwane, they had some nervous moments in their opener against the Pumas – when they led by just 19-17 at half-time – and against the Bulls (on the Wednesday) when they had two players sin-binned at virtually the same time in the first half.

“It was still close at half-time against the Pumas and I was a bit worried,” admitted Kriek. “But, that said, I knew that the guys would pull through when the chips were down… after all, we have a very strong schools system in the Western Cape and the guys were perhaps a bit more used to playing at a high level than the Pumas.

“With no disrespect towards the Pumas, our week was always geared towards the Wednesday game as we knew there would be a chance of playing a big team like the Bulls.

“The guys rose to the occasion (against the Bulls) and then, of course, played well against the Lions who had done very well to beat Free State with the last kick of the match on Wednesday.”

Of course, coaching the team to three great wins – and, thereby, the unofficial title as the best team at the 2013 Craven Week – is an outstanding, and exciting, result for Western Province Rugby, coach Kriek felt the team’s camaraderie was also a huge highlight throughout.

“Yes, of course, the results are important – but like I said before the team left it was also about making memories and having a good time at Craven Week.

“From that point of view, I was very happy with the spirit and camaraderie within our squad. I thought we bonded amazingly well – in the lead-up to the tournament and at the week itself,” said Kriek, also the First XV coach at Paul Roos.

“We were lucky enough (in our build-up) to spend a few days at the amazing Western Province Rugby Institute facilities in Stellenbosch and I thought that made a huge difference to our preparations. The players were able to eat, sleep and live rugby at the Institute – it meant a lot to them and it definitely inspired the players.”

As a cherry on top, WP also had seven players selected for the SA Under-18 team (to take part in an international series next month); captain Rikus Bothma, fellow forwards Daniel du Plessis, Thomas du Toit, JD Schickerling (who missed the Craven Week due to injury) and Jacques Vermeulen, as well as backs Daniel du Plessis and Grant Hermanus.

“There was a lot of talk, before Craven Week, about SA Schools places being up for grabs but I told the players that they would be rewarded if the team performed.

“Like I said it took a big team effort for the guys to remain unbeaten, and I am sure that a few players will be disappointed at missing out, but they’re young and still have time on their side to make it in the game.”

Kriek described the past few weeks as “exciting times for WP Rugby”, with the Under-13s, Under-16s, LSEN U18s, Girls Under-16s and Girls Under-18s (Sevens) all tasting success at their various youth weeks around the country in June and July.

Of course, to top it all off, the DHL Stormers beat the Bulls by an impressive margin of 30-13 to end their Vodacom Super Rugby campaign on a high on Saturday.

Kriek concluded: “We were all proud supporters watching the Stormers game on TV afterwards.

“We definitely have the talent here in WP and it’s been heartening to see how all the youth teams have performed – the Academy team lost one match, but that was to the eventual winners, SWD, so it has been a successful time for the union.

“For us, we dedicated the final to ‘Oom’ Theo (Kleynhans), who is stepping down from his role as head of Youth Rugby at Western Province. He has done a lot for WP over many, many years of loyal service, so we wanted to win it for him.”

* CLICK HERE for a photo gallery from Saturday’s last day of Craven Week action!