The Border Bulldogs will be heading to Port Elizabeth as favourites to meet the EP Kings in a Currie Cup clash – an Eastern Cape derby on Saturday.
This after Border recorded their second victory of the season when they beat the Sharks 37-32 at the Buffalo City Stadium Friday night while their rivals – Eastern Province – suffered their second defeat in as many matches as they went down 37-18 to the Boland Cavaliers.
The Bulldogs have shown plenty of bite in their opening two matches, beating the Lions and Sharks, and will have their eyes on another win against their arch-rivals in the Bay.
Saturday’s match will kick-off at 2pm and is a curtain-raiser to the Southern Kings’ Super Rugby clash against the Lions at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.
Border Bulldogs head coach Elliot Fana was confident that his charges can get the job done against their rivals, as long as “we keep doing the right things”.
In the match against the Sharks, wing Makazole Mapimpi, centre Oliver Zono and fullback Masixole Banda inspired the Bulldogs to win with a valuable bonus point.
In the gruelling encounter the trio stood out, particularly the pacy Mapimpi who scored four tries, but Banda and Zono were involved in some way in the play leading up to those tries. Zono scored two tries himself while Banda was involved in the launching of attacks and was successful with penalty and conversion kicks.
The East London-based provincial side now find themselves lying fourth on the 15-team Currie Cup log, thanks to two back-to-back victories, having defeated the Golden Lions in the season opener some 10 days ago.
Fana praised his charges for a job well done.
“The end result proves that we did well and rectified our problem of lacking consistency in winning,” said Fana.
“Our graph is starting to have an upward trend which means we are doing something right.”
Indeed, the Bulldogs took the match to the KwaZulu-Natal side from the beginning and they were rewarded with a penalty in the 10th minute.
Banda made no mistake, taking the home side 3-0 up.
But barely three minutes later, Sharks flyhalf Christian Radebe cancelled out the host’s lead with a well taken penalty kick.
But then the Bulldogs turned on the pace when Mapimpi benefited from Banda’s hard work and sprinted all the way to cross the try-line for the first five pointer of the night.
Moments later, Mapimpi combined with Zono from left wing and scored the second try for the home team, which Banda converted successfully.
Five minutes from the break, Mapimpi did it again and Banda did not disappoint with the conversion to take the score to 22-3 at half-time.
However, back from the interval, the tables turned as the home side went into a defensive mode and the visitors took control of the match.
The Sharks went on to score two tries within 15 minutes after the break.
But the Bulldogs managed to stand their ground and added to their try tally – another two by Mapimpi and one to Zono to finish the match 37-32 winners.
The next clash against EP will be more about bragging rights than for Border continuing with their winning streak. — Additional reporting by George Byron
Embattled EP up next for Border
This after Border recorded their second victory of the season when they beat the Sharks 37-32 at the Buffalo City Stadium Friday night while their rivals – Eastern Province – suffered their second defeat in as many matches as they went down 37-18 to the Boland Cavaliers.
The Bulldogs have shown plenty of bite in their opening two matches, beating the Lions and Sharks, and will have their eyes on another win against their arch-rivals in the Bay.
Saturday’s match will kick-off at 2pm and is a curtain-raiser to the Southern Kings’ Super Rugby clash against the Lions at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.
Border Bulldogs head coach Elliot Fana was confident that his charges can get the job done against their rivals, as long as “we keep doing the right things”.
In the match against the Sharks, wing Makazole Mapimpi, centre Oliver Zono and fullback Masixole Banda inspired the Bulldogs to win with a valuable bonus point.
In the gruelling encounter the trio stood out, particularly the pacy Mapimpi who scored four tries, but Banda and Zono were involved in some way in the play leading up to those tries. Zono scored two tries himself while Banda was involved in the launching of attacks and was successful with penalty and conversion kicks.
The East London-based provincial side now find themselves lying fourth on the 15-team Currie Cup log, thanks to two back-to-back victories, having defeated the Golden Lions in the season opener some 10 days ago.
Fana praised his charges for a job well done.
“The end result proves that we did well and rectified our problem of lacking consistency in winning,” said Fana.
“Our graph is starting to have an upward trend which means we are doing something right.”
Indeed, the Bulldogs took the match to the KwaZulu-Natal side from the beginning and they were rewarded with a penalty in the 10th minute.
Banda made no mistake, taking the home side 3-0 up.
But barely three minutes later, Sharks flyhalf Christian Radebe cancelled out the host’s lead with a well taken penalty kick.
But then the Bulldogs turned on the pace when Mapimpi benefited from Banda’s hard work and sprinted all the way to cross the try-line for the first five pointer of the night.
Moments later, Mapimpi combined with Zono from left wing and scored the second try for the home team, which Banda converted successfully.
Five minutes from the break, Mapimpi did it again and Banda did not disappoint with the conversion to take the score to 22-3 at half-time.
However, back from the interval, the tables turned as the home side went into a defensive mode and the visitors took control of the match.
The Sharks went on to score two tries within 15 minutes after the break.
But the Bulldogs managed to stand their ground and added to their try tally – another two by Mapimpi and one to Zono to finish the match 37-32 winners.
The next clash against EP will be more about bragging rights than for Border continuing with their winning streak. — Additional reporting by George Byron
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