Free State Cheetahs lock Reniel Hugo praised his team’s forward effort after shooting to the top of the Currie Cup standings with a 38-30 victory over the Sharks XV at Kings Park on Saturday night.
The Cheetahs ran in five tries after their forwards laid a solid platform upfront. They were especially brutal at scrum time, and even forced a penalty try in the 11th minute of the match.
“It was really physical out there tonight. Credit must go to our whole forwards pack. We really dominated the set phases tonight and that gave us front-foot ball,” Hugo said.
“Credit to the hard work the boys have put in and to our scrum coach Daan Human. Everyone is buying into the plan.”
The Cheetahs are the only unbeaten team in the competition and look set to host a home semi-final. Hugo says their success is down to the belief in the squad after they were written off at the start of the competition.
“At the start of the season nobody in the country gave us a chance to win this competition. We just decided to make this season our own,” Hugo said.
“We just have to take it game by game, especially the next one against the Lions. It’s never going to be an easy game and we have to work hard and start from scratch.”
However, Cheetahs captain Tian Meyer, who also scored a try on Saturday after a strong scrum, says they can’t get ahead of themselves just yet, especially as they take on the defending champions Lions in their next match.
The Lions returned to form when they beat a hapless Western Province side on Friday night.
“It’s still a long road ahead, you can’t focus on the end result just yet. But we are taking it one step at a time,” Meyer said.
“We have got the Lions. We have a short turnaround and they got a great win against Western Province. We need to work hard to fix the things we did wrong and really improve and play a good game.
“But I’m very happy to come down to Durban and win. It’s always difficult here.”
– ANA