Swallows hammer Buffalo

SWALLOWS continued their unbeaten run in the Border Super League when they trampled over Buffalo 64-14 at the NU1 Stadium in Mdantsane over the weekend.

The Mdantsane-based club coach Yongama Mkaza said he knew they would successfully defend their clean slate this season, although they didn’t want to be over confident.

Mkaza said their opponents played the game he expected from them after watching their last game when they beat Winter Rose.

“At first they started like they were going to cause problems for us, and we were patient enough and we absorbed the pressure.

“And we knew what we wanted to achieve and we stuck to our game plan and the results of the day speaks for itself,” said Mkaza.

“With 20 minutes on the clock we were already leading with a high margin score, and everyone who came to the game was happy they witnessed a very well-played game.”

Mkaza said he knew they were going to win with bonus points, but what was more important to them was enforcing their game on Buffalo.

“We watched Buffs last week at their home ground playing against Winter Rose and we didn’t see them as a threat.

“They didn’t look too strong for us and as much as we knew we were going to win the game – we had to respect them like any other team we play.

“And we just needed to stick to our structure and the game they played was exactly the way we anticipated when we were preparing ourselves.

“We wanted to play the way we practice and it was visible, because easy tries kept on coming.”

He said the only thing that his players did wrong was to be too ambitious when they noticed the leaks in the Buffs’ backline.

“Everyone wanted to be a ball runner after they noticed how easy it was to cross the tryline, and now they move away from the basics that we teach at training.

“Because they want to be counted amongst the players that crossed the line.

“But other than that, credit goes to my boys,” said Mkaza.

Buffalo forwards coach, Barry Bester congratulated Swallows for the good run, but he warned they would bounce back sooner than later.

“We played against a very, very well-oiled team and it showed they were well coached.

“It’s a hard loss, but they capitalised on our mistakes,”

Bester said.

“It’s difficult to offend a team that can run from everywhere, and a lot of the times we were on the attack, but then when we turned our head, we were behind our poles.”

Bester said the team always knew it was going to be tough going to NU1 and hence they fought until the very last minute of the game.

“It was a good game for the spectators and our character is to never lie down.

“So we’ll always give it a fight for 80, and I’m proud of the boys for standing up against a strong side like Swallows.

“And we have a young team, because the average age in our backline is 22-years-old and I think we are a good team in the making.

“If we can stick together we can only go forward and grow stronger,” said Bester.