Bulldogs coach outlines off-season plans

Border Bulldogs head coach Lumumba Currie says his side would use the postseason to work on the fundamentals they could not touch base with during the Currie Cup First Division campaign. 

The First Division was single rounded, which meant a short season with games coming at a rapid pace. Currie and his team could not get time to concentrate on improvements in between the matches. 

Now that the season is over, they have the opportunity to concentrate on the details they might not have been able to polish during the regular season. 

Currie, his management team and players are contracted until December 2021. 

“We are going to carry on; the plan is to keep the same group and improve on a number of things,” Currie said. 

“We couldn't work on improvements during the season; now since the competition is over and we don't have fixtures, we can fine-tune all those things that led to us not winning games. We'll also work on our conditioning. 

It'll also be wise to upskill our players, for capacity building. We want to do coaching courses for the players.

“Even though they are players, they should be able to at least be in the position of a level one certificate,” Currie said. 

The Bulldogs in the past season were well-conditioned, with their strength and conditioning coach Chase Morrison mentioned for doing a tremendous job with the team.

The Bulldogs peaked when they outlasted the Falcons in their 34-27 victory at Police Park.

The East London side looked fitter as the match went on in the second half while their visitors from Gauteng ran out of legs which led to the Bulldogs running riot over them in the dying stages.

Currie wants to translate the Bulldogs conditioning methods to the union's feeder structures — Walter Sisulu University, University of Fort Hare and the Border clubs. 

“There's a specific conditioning for rugby,” Currie said.

“We want to have an alignment with the two institutions and the clubs, mostly on conditioning because we don't want to take a player who's not following what we want at the Bulldogs. It's very important. 

“Our plan is to sit with the local clubs, that alignment is very important.

“We'll present our plan on how we condition our Bulldogs team, and this will filter down to our local teams. We want to hold a workshop with the strength and conditioners,” he said. 

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