Bulldogs beat Hino Valke and qualify for Currie Cup

They left it late but the Border Bulldogs scored a morale boosting 29-24 victory over the Hino Valke in a tightly contested Currie Cup qualification match at the BCM Stadium last night.

A late try four minutes from time to flying replacement wing Makazole Mapimpi in the right hand corner put them back in the lead and reserve fullback Logan Bason slotted the difficult conversion to make it a five point game.

The Bulldogs then won the ball back off the kick off and drove the Valke back into their 22m where they had to try play out from, but some superb defence kept them pinned and eventually they knocked on after the hooter to send the home crowd wild.

The win will be a big relief for the Bulldogs and their coach Elliot Fana after they were put under intense pressure after four losses in a row, but the bonus point win will give them some great confidence and hopefully spark a revival in the competition.

“I am very happy with the win, I am so glad for the players as they really needed this,” said Fana.

The home side began the match with a bang as centre Lunga Dumezweni scored under the posts after receiving the ball at pace off the back off a scrum in the Valke 22m after they had tried to run the kick off out.

Fullback Masixole Banda slotted the conversion to put them 7-0 up after two minutes.

The Valke however played well from the restart and after sustained pressure in the Bulldogs half earned a penalty which they kicked onto Border's 5m.

They were not able to maul over from the line out but prop Henri Boshoff crashed over in the left hand corner from the resultant ruck.

Former Bulldogs flyhalf Karlo Aspeling slotted the difficult conversion to draw the teams level on 15 minutes.

Border hit back almost immediately when three minutes later after working themselves into the Valke's 22m, scrumhalf Bangi Kobese went blind from a ruck and passed the ball to Banda who slipped through a gap and dotted down near the left hand corner, with him then missing the conversion.

Aspeling and Banda then traded penalties in the 28^th and 36^th minutes respectively, which allowed the home side to go into half time 15-10 to the good.

A rollicking start to the second half then saw the lead change twice in eight minutes.

First the Valke took the lead for the first time in the game as bollocking lock Shane Kirkwood smashed over from short range after a 5m scrum in Border's 22m, with Aspeling popping over the easy conversion.

The Bulldogs however went straight back up the other end from the kick off and some lovely interplay between the backs finished with Banda scoring his second try in the corner.

He then converted the difficult shot to put them back in front 22-17.

The two teams then largely cancelled each other out for the next 20 minutes, with the Bulldogs keeping play in the Valke half for most of it.

Sloppy defence from the home team, not for the first time in the match, then gave the Valke a chance to sneak a win as they tore through the defence and into the 22m where the recycled ball went to the short side allowing fullback Christo Coetzee to step inside, break a tackle and dot down.

The extras from replacement Warren Potgieter then put them ahead with 11 minutes to play, but the Bulldogs then deservedly came back to seal the victory.