Leading up to the friendly game against the Southern Kings at the weekend, Border Bulldogs interim coach David Dobela promised that his charges would compete with the Vodacom Super Rugby outfit.
And that is exactly what they did when the sides locked horns in a nail-biting contest at the Buffalo City Stadium on Saturday.
Despite the Kings eventually running in four tries to the Bulldogs’ two, they were forced to dig deep for the win against the lower tier club.
The Bulldogs, who fielded two different teams in the first and second half were caught napping when the ever impressive Coyi Banda crossed the tryline in the third minute of the game after a good attacking spell from the Kings.
Another former Bulldogs player, flyhalf Ntabeni Dukisa stepped up and successfully converted.
The rest of the first half was characterised by big hits with Bulldogs lock Lindokuhle Welemu, hooker Mihlali Mpafi and inside centre Somila Mantyoyi playing their hearts out.
The hosts competed in the rucks and managed to secure their ball well throughout the opening stanza.
Kings territory did not result to more points on the board as they led 7-0 at the interval.
A different Bulldogs team came out for the second half and immediately got the crowd excited when eight man Lukhanyo “Tseke” Siyobi forced his way over the tryline for an unconverted try after good interplay by the forwards.
The East Londoners failed to take advantage of playing against 13 men when flanker Onke Dubase and Johan Steyn were sent to the sin bin minutes apart.
Instead of taking four kickable penalties, the Bulldogs were greedy and chose scrums and punting the ball for line out.
But none of those turned into tries.
Had the Bulldogs kicked for poles, maybe the complexion of the game could have changed. Perhaps Dobela needs to drill it in his players that tries do not win games but points do.
Last year Bulldogs star wing Makazole Mapimpi received cheers when he replaced Yaw Penxe.
He did not disappoint the fans, who were calling for him to be introduced in the game, as he scored a try with his first touch.
Garrick Mattheus successfully converted.
The Bulldogs then scored a team try after flyhalf Oliver Zono played in a beautiful grabber kick.
But Kings prop Ross Geldenhuys put the result beyond doubt when he bulldozed his way over in the 79th minute.
Mattheus slotted the conversion over with the last kick of the game.
This was the first of two friendly games that the Kings will play ahead of what should be a gruelling Super Rugby campaign.
While it would not be fair to judge how the Kings would fare in the Super Rugby based on Saturday’s game, they will likely be the whipping boys of the international tournament if they play like that.
Kings coach Deon Davids was quick to point out that a few departments like the line out maul still needed a bit of work.
“It was a good test for us today. We started a little bit slow – a bit scrappy. Attacking wise I think we made too many unforced errors at the start.
“We had a lot of opportunities that we could have finished off,” he said.
“A lot of guys, youngsters played together for the first time so you could see there’s still some work to do with our combinations.”
Davids will get to further assess his side against the SWD this week.
He said there were positives to take from the game as some of the players like Siyanda Grey played their first game after long injuries.
“There’s still some work to do, but for tonight’s effort I’m quite happy. Border have a lot of good attackers, exciting backs.
“They tested the defence and I’m happy with the way the boys responded to that.”
Dobela was also happy with his side’s performance.
“The commitment and attitude that I saw from the players was good.
“Everyone was making a difference and I think we have given the Southern Kings something to think about,” said Dobela.
“I’m happy with how we are moving on and I think by the time we start playing our games we’ll be much better than this.”
Kings captain Martin Bezuidenhout, who scrammed with Chris Heiberg and Schalk van der Merwe for the first time, said he was hopeful their scrum combination would help the team win in Super Rugby.
Bulldogs make Kings sweat
And that is exactly what they did when the sides locked horns in a nail-biting contest at the Buffalo City Stadium on Saturday.
Despite the Kings eventually running in four tries to the Bulldogs’ two, they were forced to dig deep for the win against the lower tier club.
The Bulldogs, who fielded two different teams in the first and second half were caught napping when the ever impressive Coyi Banda crossed the tryline in the third minute of the game after a good attacking spell from the Kings.
Another former Bulldogs player, flyhalf Ntabeni Dukisa stepped up and successfully converted.
The rest of the first half was characterised by big hits with Bulldogs lock Lindokuhle Welemu, hooker Mihlali Mpafi and inside centre Somila Mantyoyi playing their hearts out.
The hosts competed in the rucks and managed to secure their ball well throughout the opening stanza.
Kings territory did not result to more points on the board as they led 7-0 at the interval.
A different Bulldogs team came out for the second half and immediately got the crowd excited when eight man Lukhanyo “Tseke” Siyobi forced his way over the tryline for an unconverted try after good interplay by the forwards.
The East Londoners failed to take advantage of playing against 13 men when flanker Onke Dubase and Johan Steyn were sent to the sin bin minutes apart.
Instead of taking four kickable penalties, the Bulldogs were greedy and chose scrums and punting the ball for line out.
But none of those turned into tries.
Had the Bulldogs kicked for poles, maybe the complexion of the game could have changed. Perhaps Dobela needs to drill it in his players that tries do not win games but points do.
Last year Bulldogs star wing Makazole Mapimpi received cheers when he replaced Yaw Penxe.
He did not disappoint the fans, who were calling for him to be introduced in the game, as he scored a try with his first touch.
Garrick Mattheus successfully converted.
The Bulldogs then scored a team try after flyhalf Oliver Zono played in a beautiful grabber kick.
But Kings prop Ross Geldenhuys put the result beyond doubt when he bulldozed his way over in the 79th minute.
Mattheus slotted the conversion over with the last kick of the game.
This was the first of two friendly games that the Kings will play ahead of what should be a gruelling Super Rugby campaign.
While it would not be fair to judge how the Kings would fare in the Super Rugby based on Saturday’s game, they will likely be the whipping boys of the international tournament if they play like that.
Kings coach Deon Davids was quick to point out that a few departments like the line out maul still needed a bit of work.
“It was a good test for us today. We started a little bit slow – a bit scrappy. Attacking wise I think we made too many unforced errors at the start.
“We had a lot of opportunities that we could have finished off,” he said.
“A lot of guys, youngsters played together for the first time so you could see there’s still some work to do with our combinations.”
Davids will get to further assess his side against the SWD this week.
He said there were positives to take from the game as some of the players like Siyanda Grey played their first game after long injuries.
“There’s still some work to do, but for tonight’s effort I’m quite happy. Border have a lot of good attackers, exciting backs.
“They tested the defence and I’m happy with the way the boys responded to that.”
Dobela was also happy with his side’s performance.
“The commitment and attitude that I saw from the players was good.
“Everyone was making a difference and I think we have given the Southern Kings something to think about,” said Dobela.
“I’m happy with how we are moving on and I think by the time we start playing our games we’ll be much better than this.”
Kings captain Martin Bezuidenhout, who scrammed with Chris Heiberg and Schalk van der Merwe for the first time, said he was hopeful their scrum combination would help the team win in Super Rugby.
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