Bulldogs overpower Elephants

A brave performance from the makeshift Eastern Province Elephants was not enough to upset Border Bulldogs as they went down 39-26 in their Currie Cup First Division clash at the BCM Stadium in East London on Friday.

Despite a good second-half surge that almost brought the Elephants back into the game, mistakes at crucial moments cost them.

EP are now almost completely out of the running for the competition knockouts, with this their third loss in a row, leaving them bottom of the table on two points.

It would take a monumental effort from them, along with other results going their way, to sneak into the knockout phase from here.

The Bulldogs built up a good lead in the second half and were ahead 34-12 at one stage, before a valiant fightback from the Elephants saw them score two converted tries which made it 34-26 with four minutes to play.

But the Bulldogs snuffed out the danger straight away with an unconverted try from the kick off to seal the win.

“I think we gave them two soft tries in the second half but we played very well to get a comfortable win in the end,” coach Tiger Mangweni said.

“We just have to manage the game better because in the second half we were forcing matters, trying to play in our own half too much.”

Next up for the Bulldogs is an away match against the Leopards while the Elephants will host the Griffons in PE.