Bulldogs to bare their teeth

THE Border Bulldogs head into battle at 7.10pm tonight as they front up against the South Western District Eagles at the Buffalo City Municipality Stadium.

The Currie Cup First Division’s first round of fixtures kick off this weekend with teams looking to get a good start.

The Bulldogs will want to carry their good end of Vodacom Cup form into the Currie Cup and improve on their current two-match winning streak.

Central to their success will be their ability to ignore off-field problems.

“The players are trying to focus on the game and not let the political rumbling distract them,” said Bulldogs coach Paul Flanagan.

The team does have a few injury concerns to main players according to Flanagan but as they train as a squad he believes the players coming in will step up to the plate.

The Bulldogs, who despite placing second from bottom in the Vodacom Cup, played well against more reputable unions and finished their campaign well and will be confident of causing a few upsets while improving on their disappointing showing last season where they could not muster a single win.

Added to the atmosphere will be two East London born and bred players, Jeff Taljard, whose older brother Matt will be playing off the Bulldogs bench and Roy Godfrey will be playing for the Eagles.

Border: Khwezilokusa Mkhafu; Dean Muir, Renier Schoeman, Sthembiso Mhlongo, Stephen Gerber; Shane Spring, Gareth Krause (capt); Spanner Pretorius, Shannon Rick; Karlo Aspeling, Lolo Waka, Niell Jacobs, Ruan Jacobs, Chrislyn van Schalkwyk, Quinton Crocker (v-capt)

Eagles XV: Roy Godfrey; Martin Ferreira, Raoul Larsen, Michael Vermaak, Grant le Roux; Shawn Raubenheimer, Christo du Plessis; Lucas Floors (capt), Jandre’ Blom, Martin du Toit, Alshaun Bock, Jeff Taljard, Gerrit Smith, Clint Wagman, Daniel Robberts.