Border Cup fortunes all up to them

It will need a herculean effort for the Bulldogs to ensure they deliver goods

It was a weekend of mixed fortunes in the Currie Cup First Division for the Border Bulldogs over the past weekend, despite the fact that they were not even in action.
With the Bulldogs enjoying their first weekend break of the competition, the team and management were anxiously keeping an eye on the results as there was a chance that by the end of it they could be out of the running for a semifinal place.
However it ultimately ended in the Bulldogs favour as now their chances of qualifying lie in their own hands, despite them dropping a place on the seven-team log to second from bottom.
With the Griffons claiming a surprise bonus point 40-29 upset win over the formerly top-of-the-table Leopards, which was their first defeat of the season, it allowed the Griffons to jump above the Bulldogs to fifth place on 14 points, three ahead of them.
At the same time the team sitting in the fourth and final playoff spot, the Boland Cavaliers were unable to pick up a point as they were soundly beaten 54-28 by the South Western District Eagles, leaving them on 15 points.
This was a massive result as over this coming weekend’s final round of pool action, the Cavaliers will have a bye, which opens the door for both the Bulldogs and Griffons, who will meet in a winner-takes-all match up at the BCM Stadium.
For the Griffons it is simple, win and they are through to the semis, they are too far off second place to be fighting for a home semifinal, but should they win depending on other results will see who they travel too.
The Bulldogs on the other hand need nothing less than a bonus point win if they are to sneak into the semifinals, while also denying the Griffons two bonus points (which they can get for finishing within seven points and scoring four tries or more) in what is effectively a quarterfinal match.
Both the Cavaliers and Griffons have a far superior points difference to the Bulldogs, the Cavaliers by 77 points and the Griffons by 51, meaning overhauling that is extremely unlikely, so the Bulldogs best chance is to finish on more points than both teams.
The Bulldogs will now hope that their home advantage will give them the upperhand against the Griffons when they visit on Friday night.
Border Bulldogs lock Ayabonga Nomboyo said they knew what was at stake and everyone in the team was determined to prove themselves worthy of wearing Border colours.
“We began our first training session by organising our structures and focusing on our approach for the Griffons.
“And I think that we are ready for this game, although we had time off from training but we came back and worked on a lot of things that we know can be a problem for us during that game,” said Nomboyo.
He said the players were relieved that Border management managed to sort out their late payments and could now “turn on” and focus on the task at hand which is to steal a bonus point against Griffons.
“I think the couple of days that we missed at training won’t be that detrimental to our campaign because we are fit.
“Everyone was doing their own thing on the side so that we could maintain that fitness although we had the non-payment issue.”
He added “Not getting paid was a blow to many of us players, but we glad that’s now sorted out, because we had goals of playing in the semifinal and that kind of demotivated us. But when we returned to training [on Wednesday] everyone looked excited to be back and now we just have to go out there get the results.”..

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