GRIQUAS MAY STILL HAVE SOME UNFINISHED BUSINESS WITH PROVINCE
THE LAST time Tafel Lager Griquas clashed with eventual Currie Cup winners Western Province, the Cape side gave the Kimberley band of brothers a 55-27 rugby lesson.
So, although revenge may not be a driving motive, somewhere in the back of the minds of the Kimberley team is some nagging unfinished business.
Griquas have been hard at work practices this week, preparing for their pre-season friendly against WP at the Mxolisi Dicky Jacobs Stadium in Upington at 5pm tomorrow. The peacock blues are brimming with confidence after some heavy full contact sessions, and it must be said the players are looking sharp and seem to be raring to go.
Backline coach Pieter Bergh told the
DFA that the team is ready to put what they have learned into practice.
“Everyone is excited to play our first match of 2018 … it will be the perfect opportunity to for the boys to test themselves, as well as giving them the opportunity to prove to their upcoming opponents this season that they are ready to compete at the highest level.
“Any way you look at it Griquas have a mountain of a season ahead. We played our last match in October last year and the guys have really worked hard in the off-season preparing for the new campaign.
“This (tomorrow’s friendly) is the first of three friendlies we will be playing, leading up to the SuperSport Challenge (April 21).
“We have been working on plenty of different strategies, especially on our defence and line-outs and are looking forward to seeing where we are at in those areas in a pressure situation of a match.
“We know that Province will test us in those areas, which is exactly what we want now before the season starts. We are also very excited to see the new players playing their first game for Griquas.”
Meanwhile Griquas conditioning coach, Neil Murphy said that tomorrow’s game will give an indication of how ready they are.
“After the game we will be able to see what still we need to work on. It is going to be a very physical game especially with the forwards, and Province always have an exciting fast backline. It is going to be a great first game for us in Upington. We are looking forward to the crowd coming out to support.” TEAM
Eric Zana, Ederies Arendse, Stephan Jansen van Rensburg, Christopher Bosch, Tythan Adams, Pieter Steyn De Wet, Louis Venter, De Wet Kruger, Sias Koen, Wendal Wehr, Pieter Janse van Vuren, Jonathan Jansen van Rensburg, NJ Oosthuizen, Khwezilokusa Mkhafu and Liam Hendricks. Devon Martinus, AJ Le Roux, Doctor Booysen, Jeremy Jordaan, Wandile Putuma, Conway Pretorius, Kevin Kaba, Damian Stevens, Godfrey Ramaboea, Johnathan Francke, Kyle Steyn and Luxolo Ntsepe.