Training pays off for fit WP
But Loftus rattled by no win for star-studded Bulls
THE evolution of Western Province’s style of play is gathering pace as players become fitter and more accustomed to the physical demands of a ball-in-hand approach. Recently Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer bemoaned the fitness levels of South African players, arguing that to produce a more expansive and attacking style, players needed to be fitter.
WP have been working at the change with their brutal “red” sessions at practice, which has seen the team’s intensity increase and their transition from defence to attack become more cutting-edge.
“We’ve changed the way we train, which has changed the way we play,” coach Allister Coetzee said.
“You can’t play how we are if you’re not fit, which is why guys like Rynhardt Elstadt were slightly off the pace last weekend [WP beat the Bulls 41-17].
“If you miss a week of training here you fall behind in your physical endurance. Those [red] sessions are structured so that they’re tougher than any 80 minutes of rugby they’ll play.”
Coetzee said that the change had been happening for months, suggesting it even started before director of rugby Gert Smal was appointed, but that they were only starting to see the rewards now.
“Our training is more integrated so instead of doing attack one day, defence the next and set pieces on another, we’re doing them all at high intensity in every session.”
Meanwhile, the Blue Bulls, the Griquas and rookie Eastern Province Kings remain the only winless Currie Cup sides so far this season.
Is there cause for concern at Loftus? “Absolutely,” former Bulls and Springbok prop Richard Bands says.
After only two rounds of matches in the competition, some would argue it is still way too early for the Pretoria side to be pushing panic buttons. But long before this year’s Super Rugby campaign, the side had been struggling on the domestic scene.
In the past three seasons the Bulls, who have won the most titles (21) since the Currie Cup became an annual competition in 1968, have only managed to scrape through to one semifinal, in 2012, while they failed to reach the playoff stages in 2011 and last season.
“In the past two seasons the excuse was that they lost a number of senior players. In Super Rugby you can always use that excuse, but not in the Currie Cup, especially not now,” Bands said.
“When I joined the Bulls in the early 2000s under Heyneke Meyer most of the team was made up of no-name players . . . This [current] team is star-studded.”
The Bulls went down 41-13 to the Golden Lions in their opening match of the Currie Cup before returning from Newlands with a 41-17 defeat to Western Province this past weekend. The side had no fewer than six Bok-capped players in their starting 15 against WP.
What is the problem with the Bulls side?
“It is difficult to tell whether it is a coaching thing or the problem lies with the players,” Bands said.
“. . . when you have a star-studded side and you don’t get the results, then you start to question even the game plan.”
Should the Bulls lose against the Kings at home this weekend, calls for intervention will undoubtedly be heightened. And they were dealt a blow ahead of the Kings game with flyhalf Jacques-Louis Potgieter being ruled out of action for at least four weeks after a rib dislocation.
But Springbok wing Bjorn Basson will be back from injury this week.