De Bruin would love to see how WP beat Sharks ‘so easily’
WESTERN PROVINCE coach John Dobson says he’s facing a “tricky” backline selection for their Currie Cup semifinal clash against the Golden Lions at Newlands on Saturday (kick-off 5 pm).
After a Currie Cup campaign that could be described as hot and cold, Province – who have produced a few great performances this season as well as a couple of frustrating ones – secured a home playoff fixture after beating the Sharks 31-20 in Durban at the weekend.
Against the Sharks, Ruhan Nel – who has mostly played on the wing this Currie Cup season – started at inside centre to accommodate Huw Jones at No 13, as Dobson wanted to give the exciting Scotland international more space.
And although Dobson was pleased with what Nel produced in midfield, it would be safe to assume Jones and EW Viljoen – who was rested last week – will form the centre pairing this week.
The Province mentor also added that SP Marais is back after his injury lay-off, but seeing he hasn’t played any rugby in some time, a start at fullback is unlikely for the 28-year-old. “Jano Vermaak and (Sikhumbuzo) Notshe (who was sick last week) are available, and Dan du Plessis is back to full training. SP Marais is also back, and with SP back, it’s going to be a tricky selection.
“But he hasn’t played for a while, so it might be hard throwing him into a semifinal,” Dobson said. “Ruhan did very well at 12 – he was direct and straight – but EW (Viljoen) has been good all season.
“I’m not sure about Huw at 13, but he will be in the team.”
And while Province have an attractive player sheet to choose from, the Lions are looking good in that department as well, as they have Springbok front-liners Malcolm Marx, Ross Cronje, Courtnll Skosan, Andries Coetzee, and Ruan Dreyer available, while there’s also stars like Rohan Janse van Rensburg and Kwagga Smith, and Dobson didn’t forget about loose forward Cyle Brink’s breakdown work either.
“It’s a very big game. The Lions have been improving all the time, and the injection of five Springboks – five starting Springboks – into any team will make a big difference and raise the level of intensity,” he said.
“Keegan (Daniel)” and Franco Maras got a couple of steals (for the Sharks last week), and they (the Lions) have Marx, Smith and Brink who are really good stealers. So it’s going to be very important we react quickly.”
Apart from their breakdown, another area Dobson is hoping to see improvement in is their defence – something he feels could have gone muchbetter against the Sharks.
“We felt that we didn’t work hard enough on defence on Saturday – we didn’t fold around enough to stop their forwards from running onto our backs.”
But Dosbon also reckons his team are in a “good space” as they prepare for their crucial encounter.
“I think it was important to get confidence from beating probably the best team in the competition away. So we’re in a good space, but we know it’s probably going to be our toughest game of the competition. If we had to play the Lions at Ellis Park again, I think we would have been in real trouble. We’re excited to play at Newlands.” JOHANNESBURG: The Golden Lions are fully aware they will have to produce their best performance of the season on Saturday if they are to get the better of Western Province at Newlands in their Currie Cup semi-final.
The famous Cape Town stadium hasn’t been kind to the Lions in recent times – even though the Super Rugby side did win there earlier this year – and coach Swys de Bruin knows a huge task awaits his men.
“They’re a great side, an established side, and will come with their very best against us,” he said after the Lions had beaten the Free State Cheetahs to qualify for a spot in the semis at the weekend.
“They’re always hugely competitive and they’ll be a different beast to the one we faced just over a week ago.”
Indeed, two Sundays ago, the Lions edged the men from the Cape 29-20 to stay in the hunt for the semi-finals. They scored four tries to Province’s two, but the reality is the Lions only got the better of their opponents late in the game.
But if that was a scare for the Lions, the match at Newlands earlier in the campaign, in round one, will serve as a big wake-up call. On that occasion, WP ran in six tries to coast home 39-3 against the Johannesburg-based team. Even so, WP getting the better of the Sharks last weekend shocked De Bruin as much as it did everyone else in South Africa.
“How did they manage to beat the Sharks so easily? I’d love to watch that game and see what happened,” De Bruin wanted to know on Saturday night. At that stage he hadn’t been able to see what had happened because he was preparing his Lions for the Cheetahs match, but he would have certainly watched things unfold later on.
Both teams will be on a high after the weekend’s action, but WP will certainly be the favourites to win. De Bruin’s team though will have nothing to lose after battling through the competition this year. The Lions are of the opinion that they started “late” in the Currie Cup because the first XV were still playing Super Rugby in August, and were on the back foot from the off, while no less than 12 first-choice Super Rugby players, including several Springboks and men who are currently playing in Japan and others who are injured, were missing.
The good news for the Lions though is that they have no serious injuries at the moment and will be able to call on all five of their available Boks this week.
Meanwhile, the Lions have “denied” that Blue Bulls No 9 Rudy Paige is on his way to the Joburg team. Reports at the weekend linked the Bok scrumhalf to the Lions, as a replacement for the departed Faf de Klerk, but Lions chief executive Rudolf Straeuli said yesterday: “Rudy Paige has received no contract offer from me. Everything that has been written about this matter is pure speculation.”