The Border Bulldogs, led by inspirational captain Siya Mdaka, are on a mission to restore pride and respect to a union that has endured a difficult period over the past few years.
Tomorrow, the Bulldogs face neighbours and bitter rivals, the struggling EP Kings, in a mega- Eastern Cape derby that should bring the best out of both.
With two wins over Currie Cup big guns, the Lions and the Sharks, the Bulldogs will be looking to go from strength to strength and keep the momentum going.
“We want to bring pride back to the jersey,” said Mdaka. “Border has for the past few years taken a knock and we were known as the whipping boys, but now we want to bring back that pride so that the guys who come after us will be in a better position.
“We are excited and ready for the match, we know that they are going to come at us, they have nothing to lose and we have to match them.”
Despite the great start to the season, Mdaka admits that there is still room for improvement and they want to play well for the full 80 minutes against the Kings.
“The focus for us is to be more clinical and fix the missed opportunities that we had against the Sharks,” said Mdaka.
“We are not yet the finished product and we want to keep improving game by game.”
However, the overall goal for the team this season according to Mdaka, is to turn the team into a strong confident unit that demands the respect of any team that they come up against, while also giving the supporters something to cheer for.
“This season we want to change perceptions, we want people to respect the team and we want the fans to come out and support us in their numbers again,” said Mdaka.
“When teams play the Bulldogs we want them to know that they have to play their strongest team and that we are not pushovers anymore.
“So in the end we really want to bring that pride back and when we look back we will know that we did our part.”
The potential humdinger scheduled for the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium at 2pm will serve as a curtain- raiser to the Super Rugby clash between the Lions and the Kings.
Kings head coach Robbi Kempson said: “It will be one of those derbies that we have come to grow and love. From a size point of view they have a big side. The manner in which they play is very direct and they have backs with a lot of pace.
“They tend to throw the ball around a bit, but certainly they have a large pack of forwards that the players will have to front up to.”
Kempson said the team had been working hard on cutting down the error rate, and had already seen a marked improvement during the game against Boland.
“We dominated the set-pieces, both scrums and lineouts, and while there was a large score against us it was not a real reflection of how the guys played,” he said.
Kings vice-captain Sintu Manjezi said the players had focused on their defensive structures ahead of the game. “Border are big and are going to be running hard at us. We have been focusing on our defensive lines and reducing the space to slow them down,” he said. — Additional reporting by George Byron
Bulldogs to go for the jugular
Tomorrow, the Bulldogs face neighbours and bitter rivals, the struggling EP Kings, in a mega- Eastern Cape derby that should bring the best out of both.
With two wins over Currie Cup big guns, the Lions and the Sharks, the Bulldogs will be looking to go from strength to strength and keep the momentum going.
“We want to bring pride back to the jersey,” said Mdaka. “Border has for the past few years taken a knock and we were known as the whipping boys, but now we want to bring back that pride so that the guys who come after us will be in a better position.
“We are excited and ready for the match, we know that they are going to come at us, they have nothing to lose and we have to match them.”
Despite the great start to the season, Mdaka admits that there is still room for improvement and they want to play well for the full 80 minutes against the Kings.
“The focus for us is to be more clinical and fix the missed opportunities that we had against the Sharks,” said Mdaka.
“We are not yet the finished product and we want to keep improving game by game.”
However, the overall goal for the team this season according to Mdaka, is to turn the team into a strong confident unit that demands the respect of any team that they come up against, while also giving the supporters something to cheer for.
“This season we want to change perceptions, we want people to respect the team and we want the fans to come out and support us in their numbers again,” said Mdaka.
“When teams play the Bulldogs we want them to know that they have to play their strongest team and that we are not pushovers anymore.
“So in the end we really want to bring that pride back and when we look back we will know that we did our part.”
The potential humdinger scheduled for the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium at 2pm will serve as a curtain- raiser to the Super Rugby clash between the Lions and the Kings.
Kings head coach Robbi Kempson said: “It will be one of those derbies that we have come to grow and love. From a size point of view they have a big side. The manner in which they play is very direct and they have backs with a lot of pace.
“They tend to throw the ball around a bit, but certainly they have a large pack of forwards that the players will have to front up to.”
Kempson said the team had been working hard on cutting down the error rate, and had already seen a marked improvement during the game against Boland.
“We dominated the set-pieces, both scrums and lineouts, and while there was a large score against us it was not a real reflection of how the guys played,” he said.
Kings vice-captain Sintu Manjezi said the players had focused on their defensive structures ahead of the game. “Border are big and are going to be running hard at us. We have been focusing on our defensive lines and reducing the space to slow them down,” he said. — Additional reporting by George Byron
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