WP overcome Pumas

Western Province have made a strong statement of intent in the early stages of the Currie Cup by gaining a maximum 10 points from two games‚ which indicates the title they won last year will have to be prised from their grasp.

Coach John Dobson puts that down to a good culture and spirit in the team.

Last Friday’s 57-28 win over the Pumas in Nelspruit followed a 32-0 thrashing of the Cheetahs at Newlands the week before and WP and the Golden Lions are the only unbeaten teams in the tournament.

They clash fortnight.

Dobson has blooded several youngsters in the opening stages of the tournament while at Ellis Park in a also relying on some seasoned Springboks to add experience to the squad.

But he will be without Wilco Louw‚ Damian de Allende and Sikhumbuzo Notshe for the coming two weeks at least as they jetted to Australasia with the Springboks on Saturday.

Losing that seam of talent will test the depth at the union‚ but the coach isn’t concerned.

“Youngsters such as [scrumhalf] Herschel Jantjies and [lock] Ernst van Rhyn really stood up against the Pumas‚” Dobson said..

“The Springboks in the group also really played well and showed great commitment‚ which, when you consider they were jumping on a plane to join the Boks for Australia less than 24 hours after the Pumas match‚ shows how good the culture is in this team.”