Swallows in fight against fiery Police
Coach however believes they can make game of it
SWALLOWS coach Yongama Mkaza expects his real first test this season when they take on East London Police Rugby Club at Police Park on Saturday.
Both teams have enjoyed good runs since the Border Super League season commenced as they have won all their games to date.
Last weekend Police replaced Swallows at the summit of the logstanding following their hard-fought 19-13 win against Buffalo at Police Park.
Police now have 25 points while Swallows have since been relegated to second position on the log and remain on 20 points.
This after Swallows’ last game which was against Ntlaza Lion ended first half when Ntlaza failed to return to the field, Swallows was leading 177 and both parties are still awaiting a ruling from Border Rugby.
“Police will be our first test this season because I’ve seen the results of their previous games – they are on form.
“All these years we’ve played them they have never been a walkover, they have been one of the teams that have been in contention for the league. So we are not surprised by their position on the logstandings.
“And to be honest it’s going to be one of those big games, because neither of us has tasted a loss yet,” said Mkaza.
He said he’s been preparing horses for an important race and they were prepared to fight for a win.
“We are going to take this game as if we playing against the provincial team, because they [Police] have experienced players like Bonga Mntunjana.
“They have got a huge experienced base of players who’ve played at provincial level. And we took all those things into consideration throughout our preparation.
“But I’ve also spoken to my boys and told them we need to be smart, have patience, endure and dig deep for a win because this is one of the biggest games that we going to have this season.”
The former Border Rugby player said he invested most in his tight five in the forwardline.
“We have Yanga Xhakalashe our prop, we have our hooker that’s been playing Varsity at University of Fort Hare – Dela Mavusani, he’s even played at Border level.
“We even have youngsters we just included in the team, and also we’ve got Samora Fihlani whose played for Border, EP Kings and Griffons.
“He’s one of the most experienced lock forwards, and we have more guys that are going to be doing the dirty job for us on the day,” said Mkaza.
He said doing well in the last season’s Gold Cup was the motivation that has pushed to strive for better results even though there were challenges in the team.
“We finished amongst top 12 teams in the country and I think we were the only team that played until the last games in October last year locally. But I want to say good luck to Police and may the best team win.”