WP know it won’t be a rock-up-and-win outing against Boland

THERE are no ifs and buts at Newlands tonight: Western Province must secure a bonus-point win against the Boland Cavaliers (kickoff 7.10pm). But that shouldn’t be a problem, as skipper Chris van Zyl has “real faith” in his team’s ability to score tries.

With two Currie Cup semi-final spots remaining, Province need to bag five points against seventh-placed Boland to make it to the semi-finals, and Van Zyl, is confident that his side can get the points that matter in their home fixture.

“The most important thing … I have got real faith in our ability to score tries. We need to score four.

“And I’m pretty confident we’ll be able to achieve that,” Van Zyl said.

Province have shown that they can run in the five-pointers against the Sharks, the Eastern Province Kings, the Pumas and Griquas, but Van Zyl also knows that it won’t be an easy task.

“So as far as preparing ourselves goes, we know that we’re going to have to be up for it and ready to play a big game against them, because they’re going to come at us guns blazing.”

“We know that for Boland, just like it was for Griquas, it will be their biggest game of the tournament.

Without a doubt they will have been looking forward to this game all competition. For them it’s a massive derby,” Van Zyl said.

Yes, it might be a massive game for the visitors just like it was for Griquas, but one thing that will be different in this match is the make-up of Province’s team.

The hosts will go into the encounter with some significant changes after spoiling Griquas’ party in Kimberley and thumping them 52-31.

Last week WP were injected with some Springbok blood in the form of Juan de Jongh and Bongi Mbonambi, but now the duo have rejoined the national side for their Rugby Championship meeting with Australia at Loftus tomorrow.

And this week the Cape side have another Springbok. Damian de Allende. WP coach John Dobson was excited about De Allende’s presence when he announced his team for tonight’s match yesterday, but he also praised the contribution that Mbonambi and De Jongh made against Griquas.

It does seem as though Province weren’t lamenting the loss of their Boks too much.

Mbonambi played a significant part at the lineouts last week, and although Dobson and Co were pleased with his efforts, Van Zyl was also looking forward to working together with hooker Michael Willemse, who was called up after Scarra Ntubeni suffered a season-ending injury, at the set-piece.

“He was excellent when he came off the bench last week against Griquas. I mean I have a good relationship with him as far as lineouts are concerned. He is always excited to play. So I’m looking forward to playing with him again.”

And while Van Zyl was confident about one of the set-pieces and Province’s try-scoring ability, Dobson was a little more focused on the Boland threat, and he is by no means expecting an easy, rock-up-andwin situation at Newlands.

“It is going to be tough, it’s going to take a lot of work. People didn’t enjoy our performance against the Pumas, but we worked really hard there at scrum time and the mauls.”

Dobson also compared Boland’s style of play to the Bulls, and mentioned what he thought would be Boland’s biggest weapons tonight.

“They play direct, patterned and then they spread when they’ve got real momentum. They kick contestable kicks. They haven’t got a massive amount of depth, but a night game at Newlands with that style of play; direct, physical with big carriers, they have a very good kicking game.” –