It was a “very poor performance” by Western Province against Boland, but coach John Dobson doesn’t expect the same kind of sloppiness in the Currie Cup semi-finals.
And Dobson is hoping an injection of Springboks such as Juan de Jongh and Bongi Mbonambi, as well as injured loose forward Sikhumbuzo Notshe and centre Huw Jones will give them the boost they need in a fortnight.
Province nearly didn’t make it through to the playoffs when they went behind 28-20 in the last quarter against Boland at Newlands on Friday night, but a late try by replacement lock David Ribbans and a conversion and penalty from flyhalf Robert du Preez saved their blushes by 30-28 in the Cape derby.
But they will have to travel to Pretoria to take on the Blue Bulls in the first semi-final on October 15 (3pm), while the Cheetahs will host the Lions in Bloemfontein (5pm).
The Bulls ended second on the log, and with a few Springboks coming back, they will be the favourites against WP, whose inconsistency has been a feature of their campaign.
On Friday night, the finishing was the main problem as time and again WP got to inside the Boland 22, only to cough up possession. But they will have to look at the defence once more as conceding four tries against a limited Boland attack is unacceptable.
“We just made so many mistakes and just didn’t look after the ball – two offloads in their 22 cost us 14 points. So we go on the attack and we go for crazy offloads, and they score. There’s no defence, you can’t defend that. It was a really ill-disciplined performance, I thought. Apart from giving away penalties and foul play, just the basics of looking after the ball and what we are trying to do,” Dobson said at the post-match press conference.
“At 17-7 we were on attack, and had we made the offload, we would’ve gone away with it (the game). But the one thing, to be fair, is that they’ve been through it and stood up, and we ended up third on the Currie Cup log, considering the traumas we had. That’s credit to Chris (van Zyl) and his leadership.
“If we play like that at Loftus, it’s going to be messy! But they play quite similar rugby with the direct runners and get momentum physically, with a good kicking game. So in that respect, it was quite good preparation.”
Dobson conceded that part of the reason for WP’s inaccuracy could’ve been that they underestimated Boland. “The mistakes are something that haven’t been part of our game for a while, so I don’t know if the fact that it’s Boland, or resting or the psyche somewhere. But to be fair to Boland, they were leading against the Bulls after an hour, and we were leading on the hour,” he said.
“So I sent the message to say that ‘This is exactly the same like last week, step up our intensity’. But our ball security was an issue at the start of the season, and it was really our worst performance in that respect. But I don’t think it will happen at Loftus. And there’s a mental element to it as well.”
But the two-week break before the semi-finals gives the injured players and Springboks time to recover or return from national duty, although Dobson isn’t sure about stalwarts such as Eben Etzebeth and Pieter-Steph du Toit.
“We should have guys like Ollie (Kebble), JD Schickerling, Notshe, maybe Jean-Luc du Plessis all coming back, but we haven’t thought yet of how fit they are,” he said.
“I assume that, because like last week, Juan and Bongi will be back after the All Black game as they are not centrally contracted. I don’t know about the others, or if they are going to go case-by-case and Damian stays on.
“Huw and Dewaldt (Duvenage, who missed the Boland game with a hamstring issue) are definitely going to be available, so that could be seven guys coming back at the right time.”
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