Bulldogs must turn tide in their favour

Elephants in the same boat as rivals without any wins

ABATTLE for the bottom is on the cards on Friday as the Border Bulldogs welcome fierce local rivals the Eastern Province Elephants to the BCM Stadium for their SuperSport Rugby Challenge encounter.

The Bulldogs currently prop up the South section pool with zero points after three matches, while the Elephants sit above them only on points difference after they too picked up no points after two matches.

Both teams will be desperate to break their duck and get points on the board.

“We are excited for the match and we want to get our first win of the competition,” said Bulldogs coach Tiger Mangweni.

“We are not just here to make up the numbers, and the players are ready for a tough challenge against EP.

“EP have also not had a good start to the season, so they are going to be coming hard at us and we have to be ready for that.”

The Bulldogs head into the Elephants’ match off the back of a 38-20 loss against the South Western District Eagles in George this past Friday.

The Bulldogs were again let down by silly errors and a lack of concentration towards the end of the first half that allowed the home team to take a 17-3 lead into the break, before they matched each other for most of the second half.

The Bulldogs scored two tries, through eighthman Sokuphumla Xakalashe and fullback Sonwabiso Mqalo, while scrumhalf Bangi Kobese slotted both conversions and kicked two penalties, one in the first half.

“I think we made too many errors. It wasn't a difficult game but we have ourselves to blame as we made errors and the Eagles capitalised on them,” said Mangweni.

“In the first half it was very close. It was 3-all for the majority of the half and then we just lost it in the last 10 minutes when we let them in for two tries which set us back.

“We then matched them for most of the second half, but it was not enough.”

The Elephants had the past weekend off as they had their first bye of the competition and should now be fresh for the Bulldogs challenge.

They started their campaign with a 59-12 loss against Western Province, before following that up with a 34-20 loss to the Eagles in the second weekend of action.

EP will now hope that the break did them good. They also hope to be at full strength to face the Bulldogs.

The hosts have now put their precompetition off-field problems firmly behind them, and having played three matches they are essentially back to full fitness.

“I think now we have managed to get our match fitness back to the level that we want, that is not an excuse any more, as we now have three games under our belts and the guys are now looking sharp,” said Mangweni.

“So we are ready for EP and really looking forward to an exciting match against our old rivals.”

The match kicks off at 7pm on Friday.