CAPE TOWN – Western Province coach John Dobson says he’s looking forward to the scrummaging battle when they host the Pumas in a Currie Cup clash at Newlands tomorrow (kick-off 4.30pm).
Dobson has clearly highlighted the areas he wants to focus on in the Round 11 outing.
Playing at a high intensity and maintaining it throughout the match is one of those. And while he wants to produce more on attack, he also wants them to dominate the set-pieces.
“Our plan is to play at max intensity, I don’t think we’ve produced an 80 minute performance where we were both intense and clinical,” he said.
“Their (Pumas) maul is very good and it’s something we’ve worked on whole week. Our maul defence has been good and I’m quite happy with our attacking maul. We are really looking forward to the scrums, it’s been a big part of our plans this week.”
Earlier this week, Dobson said he was expecting Warrick Gelant, a specialist fullback, to bring big presence in the role, something they’ve lacked in recent months.
Gelant made his return from injury off the bench last week and is one of five changes to the starting line-up for the clash.
The Province and Stormers coach went on to chat about the differences between this season and the last Currie Cup campaign.
“It’s a very different Currie Cup to the one we had end of last year or the start of this year, where it was very much box-kick based.
“I think there is generally a willingness in this competition for all the teams to play more attractive rugby, we just need to do it more consistently.
Western Province: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Seabelo Senatla, 13 Juan de Jongh (captain), 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Tim Swiel, 9 Paul de Wet, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Johan du Toit, 6 Nama Xaba, 5 JD Schickerling, 4 David Meihuizen, 3 Sazi Sandi, 2 Scarra Ntubeni, 1 Leon Lyons
Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Dian Bleuler, 18 Neethling Fouche, 19 Ernst van Rhyn, 20 Deon Fourie, 21 Godlen Masimla, 22 Rikus Pretorius, 23 Tristan Leyds, 24 Lee-Marvin Mazibuko, 25 De Wet Marais
IOL Sport