Senatla wants to warm the hearts of the faithful
SPEEDSTER Seabelo Senatla has promised that the Western Province faithful will have a nice day out at Newlands on Saturday if the Free State Cheetahs pepper his team with long kicks.
Coach John Dobson has been working on the team's counter-attacking before the start of the season to make better use of their opponents’ aimless kicks, especially in the latter stages of their Currie Cup matches when the opposition teams start to tire.
There were glimpses of their attacking prowess in Kimberley on Friday when WP beat Griquas 43-19 in their own backyard.
The Cheetahs were outplayed by the Blue Bulls last week, and conceded six tries to three in their 57-19 defeat. Almost the same WP backline also caused them all sorts of strife in Super Rugby when the Stormers hammered the Cheetahs at Newlands.
“The Cheetahs attack you from the maul and play coast to coast (side to side), which keeps you quite busy,” Dobson said. “The only thing is that they like to kick quite long, which will give our back three some food to attack. We had talked in pre-season to get our counter-attack going, and I think we saw signs of it against Griquas.”
Senatla opened his account for the Currie Cup campaign with two tries against Griquas. But, bizarrely, he says there is still room for improvement as far as his game is concerned.
Room, though, is one thing that the Cheetahs won’t want to give the Welkom-born flyer, who wants to give the Cape Town rugby public something to smile about on Saturday afternoon.
“If their chaseline is a bit scattered, why not have a go, especially if you got players like Dillyn (Leyds) and Cheslin (Kolbe) who can support you,” the Springbok Sevens star said.
“The line is normally straight for the first 20 minutes when the guys are fresh, but when they start to get tired, it’s going to be pretty dangerous for them to kick on us, because we have got players at the back who can break any defensive line.
“Our plan is to put pressure on them so that they are uncomfortable. Once they feel a little pressure, they might kick and hope for the best. And if the line is staggered, it’s going to be a nice day for the WP faithful!” Senatla joked.
While WP left Kimberley unscathed, their discipline wasn’t that great against Griquas. They gave away far too many penalties and played with 14 men for 20 minutes of that encounter.
Dobson says it might have been his fault after telling the players to have a bit of a go at the breakdown because the new interpretations, which allows the stealer to have a real shot at the ball at the breakdown.
“The discipline was terrible,” Dobson said.
“I think I’m partly responsible for that, because I said ‘have a go’. I spoke to Jaco Peyper afterwards, and he says they are phasing it (the new interpretations) in.
“So we were maybe a little bit over-eager there. The worst thing in rugby is giving away a penalty in the opposition 22 and letting them exit. We gave away five penalties in the opposition’s 22 and that helped them a lot.”
The good news for WP is that hooker Bongi Mbonambi came through the game unscathed, even though he was taken off at halftime. The former Bulls hooker had a bit of an issue with his hamstring, but Dobson said he will be okay for the match on Saturday against the Cheetahs.
Wing Kobus van Wyk is also set to return to the side following a long layoff.
The injury concern at the moment is Johnny Kotze, who picked up a knock to the head in training yesterday. He will be assessed today.
The other concern is Kolbe’s form following a hectic Super Rugby campaign.
“Cheslin had a good four or five weeks off, and we don’t know how much is match rustiness or him needing a break. I did flag him before the competition as someone who has played a lot of rugby, but Cheslin feels that the form will come with a few more games,” Dobson said.