While happy to get back to winning ways at DHL Newlands on Friday, DHL Western Province know that there is a lot of hard work that lies ahead in the Carling Currie Cup following their bye this week.
Following two narrow losses, DHL Western Province showed good character to secure a bonus point in extra time of their 28-14 win against the Phakisa Pumas and will look to build on that performance going forward.
The fourth try came well after the hooter at DHL Newlands, as loosehead prop Steven Kitshoff forced his way over for the crucial five-pointer, however the team was under no illusions that they will have to raise their game further in the weeks to come.
Captain Siya Kolisi said that while he was happy with the win, his team know that their performance was still some way off where they want to be.
“The positive is that we won, that’s what we wanted to achieve, we said that it wouldn’t matter how ugly. We showed a lot of character, but we made a lot of mistakes and we didn’t play well. So we are not happy with the game generally, but we are happy with the win.
“We know we have got a lot to work on, but we are glad that we pulled through and went for the bonus point, even though the game was tough and our discipline was bad, we still believed we could get a bonus point and that is what happened at the end,” he said.
There are three games left for DHL Western Province before the play-offs, but Kolisi said that they are only focused on the next challenge, which will see them host the Tafel Lager Griquas at DHL Newlands on Boxing Day.
“We are taking it a game at a time, we are not thinking all the way to the end. We will take the win, have our bye week and then come back and work hard. We will use this as a confidence-booster, but there is so much to work on. We are happy with the win, but not happy with the performance, especially the discipline,” he said.
DHL Western Province Head Coach said that they are looking forward to welcoming back a number of key players from injury in the coming weeks as they build towards the Carling Currie Cup play-offs in January.
“In a couple of weeks time we will see the return of Sergeal Petersen, Edwill van der Merwe, Ruhan Nel, Tim Swiel, Juarno Augustus, Neethling Fouche, JD Schickerling and Frans Malherbe,” he said.
