The Border Bulldogs are flying high in second place on the Absa Currie Cup qualifying log after a storming start to the season.
They now head into their next match against the Pumas on Saturday afternoon at the BCM Stadium with bags of confidence and they will be looking for another positive result to consolidate their position.
“We will be ready for the Pumas game and there is enough motivation for us to do well,” Border coach Elliot Fana said.
“However I am sure by now people know that we do not want to get ahead of ourselves, we know that the last few seasons the Pumas have been playing at a higher level than us, so we will have to play very well on Saturday to get a positive result.”
The Bulldogs trail the table-topping Griquas by a point, after they picked up a full-house of points over both the Sharks and against the Kings last weekend, while their only ’dropped’ point came in their opening season win against the Lions in Johannesburg.
The Bulldogs and Griquas now remain the only two unbeaten teams in the tournament and Griquas should be able to keep that record intact, when they play the Boland Cavaliers in Wellington tomorrow afternoon.
The Bulldogs however, face a tricky match against the Pumas, who in the past two seasons have been fighting it out with the best in the business in the premier division.
In contrast, the Pumas started this season with two losses, but managed to claim their first win against Boland this past weekend and the result could not have come at a better time for them.
Border will thus need to be on top of their game, if they are to keep their unbeaten record intact and put pressure on Griquas.
“We must not take our eyes off the ball now that we are well placed on the log and we have to keep our performances at the highest level,” said Fana.
“We will be working extremely hard this week to work on the areas of concern in our game and make sure we are 100% ready for the Pumas this weekend.” This will also be Border's first match against a team they are in direct competition with for qualification.
With all the Super Rugby teams guaranteed a place in the Currie Cup main division, the Lions, Sharks and Kings losses do not matter to them that much, but the Bulldogs and Pumas both know that a loss will set them back in the race for qualification.
Border will look to call on the character shown in their win over the Kings this past weekend to keep them going.
Despite trailing 7-0 at halftime they stormed back with four tries in the second half, while conceding just one more to secure a 26-14 win.
It marked the first time this season that they went into the break behind and proved to be a test they passed with flying colours, thanks to their second-half response.
“I was very happy with the weekends result,” said Fana.
“We had a superb comeback in the second half and I am proud of the character shown by the guys.
“What really impressed me in the match was our captain Siya Mdaka, who was outstanding on the day in the way he handled the team and kept them calm throughout the match and this, coupled with the performance of our bench, made sure we came away from PE with full points.”
Saturday’s match against the Pumas kicks off at 2.30pm.
Pumas will be test of character for high-riding Bulldogs
They now head into their next match against the Pumas on Saturday afternoon at the BCM Stadium with bags of confidence and they will be looking for another positive result to consolidate their position.
“We will be ready for the Pumas game and there is enough motivation for us to do well,” Border coach Elliot Fana said.
“However I am sure by now people know that we do not want to get ahead of ourselves, we know that the last few seasons the Pumas have been playing at a higher level than us, so we will have to play very well on Saturday to get a positive result.”
The Bulldogs trail the table-topping Griquas by a point, after they picked up a full-house of points over both the Sharks and against the Kings last weekend, while their only ’dropped’ point came in their opening season win against the Lions in Johannesburg.
The Bulldogs and Griquas now remain the only two unbeaten teams in the tournament and Griquas should be able to keep that record intact, when they play the Boland Cavaliers in Wellington tomorrow afternoon.
The Bulldogs however, face a tricky match against the Pumas, who in the past two seasons have been fighting it out with the best in the business in the premier division.
In contrast, the Pumas started this season with two losses, but managed to claim their first win against Boland this past weekend and the result could not have come at a better time for them.
Border will thus need to be on top of their game, if they are to keep their unbeaten record intact and put pressure on Griquas.
“We must not take our eyes off the ball now that we are well placed on the log and we have to keep our performances at the highest level,” said Fana.
“We will be working extremely hard this week to work on the areas of concern in our game and make sure we are 100% ready for the Pumas this weekend.” This will also be Border's first match against a team they are in direct competition with for qualification.
With all the Super Rugby teams guaranteed a place in the Currie Cup main division, the Lions, Sharks and Kings losses do not matter to them that much, but the Bulldogs and Pumas both know that a loss will set them back in the race for qualification.
Border will look to call on the character shown in their win over the Kings this past weekend to keep them going.
Despite trailing 7-0 at halftime they stormed back with four tries in the second half, while conceding just one more to secure a 26-14 win.
It marked the first time this season that they went into the break behind and proved to be a test they passed with flying colours, thanks to their second-half response.
“I was very happy with the weekends result,” said Fana.
“We had a superb comeback in the second half and I am proud of the character shown by the guys.
“What really impressed me in the match was our captain Siya Mdaka, who was outstanding on the day in the way he handled the team and kept them calm throughout the match and this, coupled with the performance of our bench, made sure we came away from PE with full points.”
Saturday’s match against the Pumas kicks off at 2.30pm.
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