South Africa's premier club rugby competition the Gold Cup continues this weekend as the second weekend of action prepares to kick-off across the country.
Police rugby club will play their first match of the competition after having a bye over the first weekend and they will be eager to start their campaign with a win.
“Police has been waiting for a very long time to be in this competition, so we are really excited to get our campaign under way,” said Police coach Alistair Alexander.
Police will be taking on Belaz Sishen from Kathu in their opening match and they will be hunting a good win to start the competition with.
Sishen will also be gunning for a win as they aim to bounce back from their heavy 44-17 home defeat against Pretoria Police.
“We want to get off to a good start in the competition, but we know the match will be tough, we don't know much about the Sishen team but any team that makes it into the Gold Cup will pose a threat,” admitted Alexander.
Since the Border rugby season came to an end over a month ago, Police have played two qualifying matches to get into the Gold Cup and having that game time could be invaluable in making sure they are ready. With homeground advantage Police will also look to benefit from that and hopefully a large crowd will turn out to support.
“We are happy to be playing at home, both our qualifiers were away, so another away match would have been very tough on the guys, so it was good to get a home match first up,” claimed Alexander.
“We have been training very hard for the past two weeks, since the end of the qualifiers and we feel we are ready to go.
“I think having played those two games and won them gives us good momentum going into this weekend and it also kept us sharp.”
East London’s other team in the competition, MPM Old Selbornians started their campaign this past weekend, away against the tournament defending champs Durbanville-Bellville.
After putting up a massive fight in the first half and only trailing by two points, 16-14, at the break, the hosts then ran away in the second half recording a big 40-14 win.
“16-14 down at halftime away from home, if you had offered me that before the start of the game I would have taken it any day,” said Old Boys coach David McCallum.
“Then going into that second half we received three questionable yellow cards, which reduced us to 13 men at a stage, where they scored 21 points and we were unfortunately unable to get ourselves out of that hole.
“So the scoreline definitely wasn't a true reflection of the game, as I believe we played quite well.”
Old Boys now have a bye this weekend and will be back in action next weekend.
“I am happy to have a break now, we hadn’t had much competitive game time going into this tournament, so the guys are bumped and bruised and can have a bit of a breather now while we also have a nice few practices to improve on certain areas so the bye has come at the perfect time,” admitted McCallum.
For Police their match kicks off at 3.30pm at Police Park on Saturday afternoon.
Police looking for gem of Cup start
Police rugby club will play their first match of the competition after having a bye over the first weekend and they will be eager to start their campaign with a win.
“Police has been waiting for a very long time to be in this competition, so we are really excited to get our campaign under way,” said Police coach Alistair Alexander.
Police will be taking on Belaz Sishen from Kathu in their opening match and they will be hunting a good win to start the competition with.
Sishen will also be gunning for a win as they aim to bounce back from their heavy 44-17 home defeat against Pretoria Police.
“We want to get off to a good start in the competition, but we know the match will be tough, we don't know much about the Sishen team but any team that makes it into the Gold Cup will pose a threat,” admitted Alexander.
Since the Border rugby season came to an end over a month ago, Police have played two qualifying matches to get into the Gold Cup and having that game time could be invaluable in making sure they are ready. With homeground advantage Police will also look to benefit from that and hopefully a large crowd will turn out to support.
“We are happy to be playing at home, both our qualifiers were away, so another away match would have been very tough on the guys, so it was good to get a home match first up,” claimed Alexander.
“We have been training very hard for the past two weeks, since the end of the qualifiers and we feel we are ready to go.
“I think having played those two games and won them gives us good momentum going into this weekend and it also kept us sharp.”
East London’s other team in the competition, MPM Old Selbornians started their campaign this past weekend, away against the tournament defending champs Durbanville-Bellville.
After putting up a massive fight in the first half and only trailing by two points, 16-14, at the break, the hosts then ran away in the second half recording a big 40-14 win.
“16-14 down at halftime away from home, if you had offered me that before the start of the game I would have taken it any day,” said Old Boys coach David McCallum.
“Then going into that second half we received three questionable yellow cards, which reduced us to 13 men at a stage, where they scored 21 points and we were unfortunately unable to get ourselves out of that hole.
“So the scoreline definitely wasn't a true reflection of the game, as I believe we played quite well.”
Old Boys now have a bye this weekend and will be back in action next weekend.
“I am happy to have a break now, we hadn’t had much competitive game time going into this tournament, so the guys are bumped and bruised and can have a bit of a breather now while we also have a nice few practices to improve on certain areas so the bye has come at the perfect time,” admitted McCallum.
For Police their match kicks off at 3.30pm at Police Park on Saturday afternoon.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending Now
Latest Videos