Dobson says there is no complacency

Rudolph Jacobs

The red-hot Western Province squad have created a perfect Currie Cup scenario in an attempt to emulate what the Golden Lions and the Cheetahs achieved a few seasons back.

In 2015 and 2016 the Lions and the Cheetahs managed to win their respective titles by going through the competition unbeaten, with the Lions defeating Province 32-24 and the Cheetahs beating the Blue Bulls 36-16.

But after their thumping 34-7 win over the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld last week, to set up a home clash against the same team in the semifinals on Saturday, Province coach John Dobson (right) said their six-match unbeaten run could mean nothing if they didn’t finish the job.

“This is a special group and they are definitely not going to be complacent,” Dobson said.

With their scrum annihilating the Bulls, Dobson said it could be a different scenario this weekend.

While rain was expected the whole week, it could clear up before the weekend.

“We are also completely aware that the conditions favoured us,” he said after Springbok prop and former Bulls player Wilco Louw acted as chief scrum destroyer.

Though Province could be strengthened by the return of exciting fullback Dillyn Leyds, who withdrew on the eve of last week’s clash due to a calf injury, Dobson was of course over the moon after his side maintained their unbeaten run.

“We are absolutely thrilled and I think the players responded incredibly well,” he said.

“It was unusual to be in the position where we had to win the game or score four tries within one half.”

Province ended the roundrobin stage of the competition by scoring the most tries with 38, and they had also conceded the least with just 16.

Dobson, however, listed two reasons why they could expect a bigger challenge this weekend.

“First of all, because of our experience of them and secondly, because some of the Blue Bulls players made wet weather mistakes (last week),” he said.

“It is not going to be as easy this weekend.”