The high-flying Border Bulldogs are preparing to welcome the South Western Districts (SWD) Eagles to East London this week for their final pool match of the Currie Cup First Division.
Over the past weekend the Bulldogs sealed their home semifinal spot with a thumping 54-29 away win over the Hino Valke.
This coupled with the Eagles losing to the Leopards 49-31 and the Down Touch Griffons playing their final pool match, beating the Welwitschias 84-25, means that the Bulldogs cannot be caught in second place.
“I am very happy for the players. I told them well done because now our fate is in our own hands as we don’t have to rely on other teams. We have done the hard work,” said Border coach Elliot Fana.
The only question is who the Leopards will host in the first semifinal as, with them on 25 points having played all their pool games, the Bulldogs on 17 points cannot pass them.
The Bulldogs will thus host the Griffons, who have finished on 15 points, in their semifinal.
SWD currently sit in fourth place on nine points and need a win to secure their semifinal place, as the Valke on seven points can still catch them.
Although the Valke take on the bottom of the table Welwitschias away from home in Namibia, they will still be expected to win as every team that has played them so far in the competition has come away with a five-point win.
Which makes the Bulldogs match a very important one for the Eagles as they will be desperate to win, while the Bulldogs will also be hunting another powerful win to head with confidence into the semifinals.
“Even though we have qualified for a home semifinal we also gave the players a stern warning. We need momentum for the semifinals, so this game has a lot of meaning for us,” said Fana.
The Bulldogs team to take on the Eagles features a number of changes, with some players receiving a rest and others battling injury.
“Some of our changes are forced by injury while others are rotational as we look forward to the semifinals,” said Fana.
Two changes have been made to the backline, with flyhalf Oliver Zono out injured. Masixole Banda moves back to flyhalf and Sonwabiso Mqalo takes his place at fullback, while a rotational change at inside centre sees Siphosethu Tom get a chance, with Lunga Dumezweni dropping to the bench.
In the forwards four changes have been made, as Siyamthande Ngande gets another chance to impress as he comes in at loosehead, with captain Blake Kyd switching to tighthead and Johannes Jonker out with a light injury concern.
Mbeko Kota at hooker and Athenkosi Kethani at lock both get a chance to show what they have got as Mihlali Mpafi drops to the bench and Lindokuhle Welemu gets a rest.
At flank Billy Dutton comes in and Johannes Janse van Rensburg shifts to eighthman as they test a new strategy.
“We just want to see how these three do together as a unit and how the combination fares, as we have been struggling a bit recently at ruck time and we want to fix that,” said Fana.
“But all in all I believe this is a very good team and they can do the business for us on the day.”
The match kicks of at 7pm on Friday night.
Bulldogs squad: Siyamthande Ngande; Mbeko Kota, Blake Kyd (capt); Athenkosi Khethani, Hendri Storm; Onke Dubase, Billy Dutton; Johannes Janse van Rensburg, Bangi Kobese, Masixole Banda, Makazole Mapimpi, Siphosethu Tom, Lundi Ralarala, Siphosenkosi Nofemele, Sonwabiso Mqalo
Reserves: Mihlali Mpafi, Yanga Xakalashe, Phumlani Blaauw, Lukhanyo Nomzanga, Sinovuyo Nyoka, Lunga Dumezweni and Michael Makase
Border to pluck Eagles wings
Over the past weekend the Bulldogs sealed their home semifinal spot with a thumping 54-29 away win over the Hino Valke.
This coupled with the Eagles losing to the Leopards 49-31 and the Down Touch Griffons playing their final pool match, beating the Welwitschias 84-25, means that the Bulldogs cannot be caught in second place.
“I am very happy for the players. I told them well done because now our fate is in our own hands as we don’t have to rely on other teams. We have done the hard work,” said Border coach Elliot Fana.
The only question is who the Leopards will host in the first semifinal as, with them on 25 points having played all their pool games, the Bulldogs on 17 points cannot pass them.
The Bulldogs will thus host the Griffons, who have finished on 15 points, in their semifinal.
SWD currently sit in fourth place on nine points and need a win to secure their semifinal place, as the Valke on seven points can still catch them.
Although the Valke take on the bottom of the table Welwitschias away from home in Namibia, they will still be expected to win as every team that has played them so far in the competition has come away with a five-point win.
Which makes the Bulldogs match a very important one for the Eagles as they will be desperate to win, while the Bulldogs will also be hunting another powerful win to head with confidence into the semifinals.
“Even though we have qualified for a home semifinal we also gave the players a stern warning. We need momentum for the semifinals, so this game has a lot of meaning for us,” said Fana.
The Bulldogs team to take on the Eagles features a number of changes, with some players receiving a rest and others battling injury.
“Some of our changes are forced by injury while others are rotational as we look forward to the semifinals,” said Fana.
Two changes have been made to the backline, with flyhalf Oliver Zono out injured. Masixole Banda moves back to flyhalf and Sonwabiso Mqalo takes his place at fullback, while a rotational change at inside centre sees Siphosethu Tom get a chance, with Lunga Dumezweni dropping to the bench.
In the forwards four changes have been made, as Siyamthande Ngande gets another chance to impress as he comes in at loosehead, with captain Blake Kyd switching to tighthead and Johannes Jonker out with a light injury concern.
Mbeko Kota at hooker and Athenkosi Kethani at lock both get a chance to show what they have got as Mihlali Mpafi drops to the bench and Lindokuhle Welemu gets a rest.
At flank Billy Dutton comes in and Johannes Janse van Rensburg shifts to eighthman as they test a new strategy.
“We just want to see how these three do together as a unit and how the combination fares, as we have been struggling a bit recently at ruck time and we want to fix that,” said Fana.
“But all in all I believe this is a very good team and they can do the business for us on the day.”
The match kicks of at 7pm on Friday night.
Bulldogs squad: Siyamthande Ngande; Mbeko Kota, Blake Kyd (capt); Athenkosi Khethani, Hendri Storm; Onke Dubase, Billy Dutton; Johannes Janse van Rensburg, Bangi Kobese, Masixole Banda, Makazole Mapimpi, Siphosethu Tom, Lundi Ralarala, Siphosenkosi Nofemele, Sonwabiso Mqalo
Reserves: Mihlali Mpafi, Yanga Xakalashe, Phumlani Blaauw, Lukhanyo Nomzanga, Sinovuyo Nyoka, Lunga Dumezweni and Michael Makase
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