DHL Western Province remained unbeaten in the 2013 Absa Currie Cup, much to the delight of coach Allister Coetzee who praised his players for working hard to maintain the team’s winning culture.
The defending Currie Cup champions were made to work very hard for Friday night's 29-27 victory, their sixth of the season to go with two draws, but it was a pleasing result for the Men from Cape Town.
Coetzee told www.wprugby.com: “It takes time to develop a winning culture, but it's important to keep winning and it showed the character of this team to pull this one through.
“We were inaccurate for most part of the match, but in closing the match out we showed that we can be accurate when we have to be.”
Of course, the big news in Bloemfontein on Friday night – apart
from the win! – was the return to action of star flanker Schalk Burger, who joined the fray in the 60th minute after nearly 18 months on the sidelines with injuries (knee and calf muscle) and after also contracting bacterial meningitis this year.
“The plan was always to give Schalk 20 minutes,” explained Coetzee. “Yes, the match was in the balance then, but we planned his comeback and he made an impact when he came on.
“He's an experienced player and he was a calming influence on the youngsters in the team in those final few minutes. He wasn't as accurate as we would've like, but we expected that and he can only get better.
“I thought the whole bench did well on the night – all the players who came on made an impact,” added Coetzee. “However, I was unhappy with the points we gifted them – all three their tries came from our errors or turnover ball.”
Province were outscored by two tries to three on Friday, but a 78th minute drop-goal from fit-again flyhalf Demetri Catrakilis – in his second appearance of the season – saw the visitors close out the crucial win away from home. (CLICK HERE for a photo gallery from Friday!)
Said Coetzee: “Demetri is 100% over his injury and he's had enough time to get used to our systems again at Western Province.
“We're very blessed to call upon him, Kurt Coleman and Gary van Aswegen in the flyhalf position and we certainly have a few pleasant selection headaches in the coming weeks.”
Van Aswegen is likely to be available for selection after two missing two matches with a knee injury, whilst prop Frans Malherbe (ankle, long-term injury) and flanker Rynhardt Elstadt (shoulder, two weeks) could also be back – adding to Coetzee's selection headaches. “We will know more about Frans, Rynhardt and Gary tomorrow, but it can only be a good thing for us,” he said.
DHL WP will host the Golden Lions at DHL Newlands this coming Saturday (kick-off 14h00), and Coetzee concluded: “It's an important game, but we need to be better (than we were against Free State). The previous WP-Lions game produced a 62-point draw, but this is a new game and, of course, we will be at home at DHL Newlands.”
* CLICK HERE for DHL Newlands ticketing information ahead of this weekend!
