Bulldogs can end season off in style
Hope springs eternal for Old Boys
rebuilding campaign after they lost a host of players after last year’s first division competition.
They had enjoyed one of their best seasons of the past 10 years.
They started the first division in poor form, losing their first three matches in a row, including a thumping at home at the hands of the Boland Kavaliers.
That turned out to be the turning point and the Bulldogs beat the EP Kings away, just lost to second on the log Leopards at home, and beat the Welwitschias last weekend.
“Starting from the EP game we have played well. We only just lost to the Leopards and never gave up against the Welweitschias and got the win in the end, so it has been a great response after the poor start,” Dobela said.
“The guys have realised that they are the starting players now and they need to wave the Border flag high.
“They have been taking ownership of that and it has helped a lot.”
The Bulldogs will now be aiming to have a fairytale end to their campaign.
Twenty six players in total will be going up for the game as players in the extended squad will be joining as part of a team-building exercise.
“We decided to send a larger squad to help lift team morale and make sure everyone was included for our last game,” explained Dobela.
“It will be a bit of a team building thing for the guys and will make sure that we end off our season on a high note, regardless of the result.” CLUB rugby on the Border comes to a close this weekend for the 2017 season as MPM Old Selbornians take on Cape Town side Tygerberg in their Gold Cup encounter at Mike Pendock Motors Park this afternoon.
Tygerberg are second in five team pool C and need a win to seal their progress to the quarterfinals. However, even two bonus points in a loss would also see them go through.
Bottom of the pool Old Boys are still mathematically in with a chance but they would need an unlikely weekend of results, including needing to claim a full house of points over Tygerberg and beat them by 31 points to go ahead on points difference and also hope the other pool match results goes their way.
“It is hard to believe but we still have a chance to qualify,” said Old Boys coach James Winstanley.
“There is a lot that needs to go our way this weekend but we are going in with the mindset that we can still make it into the Gold Cup quarterfinals and we will be going all out to do that.
“It has been a funny competition this year. The team that was topping the log before last weekend’s matches was then knocked out of the running, and even though we are bottom of the log we still have a chance.”
It will be a tough match for Old Boys, especially since the team has yet to pick up a win in three matches. All three games though went down to the wire, with Old Boys edged by just one point in two games and then by three points in this past weekend’s match against Progress George.
Tygerberg, by comparison, have won two games and lost one and come into the match off a thumping 43-13 victory over Swallows.
“They are a good team. They have proven themselves in the competition so far,” said Winstanley.
“But ultimately we have played well this season but haven’t fired enough shots, so we have nothing to lose and it will make a great story if we can pull this one off.”
The action today kicks off at 3pm and a big home crowd should be in attendance to roar their team on.