Finally, WP’s showing some heart
WP's defence and their supposed lack of character have come under much scrutiny during this Currie Cup campaign.
|||Western Province’s defence and their supposed lack of character have come under much scrutiny during this Currie Cup campaign.
The drubbing in the round-robin match against the Blue Bulls at Loftus Versfeld, their first-half capitulation against the Free State Cheetahs in Bloemfontein, and the 30-point hiding at the hands of the Golden Lions a few weeks ago have been presented to the jury as evidence to support the claim that this WP team may be a bit spineless.
However, in the final 15 minutes of Friday night’s semi-final against the Bulls in Pretoria, Province fans finally saw their team show some heart, and a lot more bottle, which helped them book a place in this Saturday’s final against the Lions at Ellis Park.
The 23-18 win was set up by two moments of brilliance by WP fullback Cheslin Kolbe, but the way the Cape side held on towards the end against a desperate Bulls side must have made coach John Dobson and defence guru Paul Treu very happy men.
Bongi Mbonambi’s all-round contribution, Steven Kitshoff’s superb steals in the second half, and Nizaam Carr’s tireless ball-carrying and defensive work set the tone for WP’s resistance at the death.
“Our mission at half-time was to carry on (attacking), but in the last 15 minutes it was our defence that helped us close out the game,” Dobson said.
“To come to Loftus and not concede a try is a great achievement. Paul Treu has had a hard time over the last couple of weeks, but that just shows the character of this team, the way we defended.”
But while WP showed lot of character in the last quarter of the match, it shouldn’t have come down to a battle of wills. In fact, WP could have put this Bulls side away in the first half.
WP were all over their arch-rivals like a bad suit in that period, but for some reason they couldn’t apply the finishing touches to an awesome forward display.
WP created so much space, but the lateral running of the backs negated all the overlaps they created. The number of dropped balls also let the Bulls off the hook on a few occasions.
That is rather surprising if you consider that WP have some of the most talented backs in the country, and players who just a year ago ran every team off their feet.
Maybe it was a case of nerves on the semi-final stage, but WP will have to sort that out before their meeting with the Lions, because chances are going to be few and far in between in the final in Joburg.
“I was disappointed to be 9-9 at half-time. That’s why I’m relieved that we won the game in the end because the Bulls never stopped playing and they could’ve won it at the end. We should have done more in the first half,” Dobson said.
Nevertheless, it would be unfair to nit-pick after WP managed to make the final, especially after their heavy loss at Loftus earlier in the season.
The Bulls have also done well this year after a terrible run in recent Currie Cups.
“It’s a great result (for the Bulls),” Dobson said. “You have to give the Bulls and Nollis (Marais) a lot of credit. They are playing a great style of rugby and their team is an up-and-coming team. They had a home semi and had a lot of belief.
“For us to come up here – we got 60 (against us) two weeks ago down the road (at Ellis Park) – and get off the canvas like that, I think we deserved to win the game in the end. It was a tight game, but maybe marginally we deserved it.”
The return to form of Kolbe will certainly be a boost for WP as they head into the final.
The No 15 has had a quiet tournament by his standards, while injuries have also not helped his cause.
But on Friday, he scored a crucial try that came from a Kitshoff turnover, and set up another with some quick thinking.
“(They were) slightly predatory tries but in a semi-final like this, those things are going to turn the game,” Dobson said.
“I’ve been under a lot of pressure from outside to take another look at our back three, people saying Chessie’s time has come and we must look at someone else. But he epitomised the team getting off the canvas.”
Cape Argus