Mkaza talks tough for Buffalo

SWALLOWS coach Yongama Mkaza expects a tough encounter when they host Buffalo in a Border Super League game at NU1 stadium in Mdantsane this afternoon.

Mkaza warned no team walked into their “graveyard and came out alive”.

But the fact that Mkaza have won most of their league games has not been lost on him. “If you look at Buffalo, they are playing good rugby this year. Take their match against Police they just lost. That was a close call as the game ended 18-14.

“And last week, they beat Winter Rose with a big margin and earned bonus points, so I’m saying this won’t be an easy game, but every game to us is like a cup final,” said Mkaza. He said once you start to win trophies “every team in the league wants to beat you and that’s a challenge we need to overcome as a team.

“We need to go to our games knowing it’s going to be tough and people around the City who love rugby, should come out and support their teams. Trust me, we are well-prepared for this game and we know we are going to be driving it with patience, building it up and then we get four points first and then we’ll start focusing on bonus points.”

Swallows are currently in second position on the log-standings with 24 points and they are still waiting for Border Rugby to settle two disputes that would see them earning 10 points and replacing Police who have 25 points at the summit of the log.

“If we are awarded those points by Border Rugby we would move up, but we are not panicking because we know our position because of what we’ve been doing.

“So we’ll just wait for the officials to perform their duties because we trust them enough to respect the officials who are handling these matters.”

Mkaza also encouraged their fans to support their second team – Sharks – when they take on Buffalo 2nd team that will raise the curtain for the main game.

“They are old guys but when they get on to playing field you can see they have dancing shoes. And our boys that are demolition these teams never went to former Model C school, they just studied in Kwelera, and Tsholomnqa and other rural areas.

“And seeing Siya Kolisi leading the Springboks, makes me think that if we can continue grooming talent in rural areas – we can transform rugby at the national level.”