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Cape Town - In the run-up to this weekend’s North-South Derby at Loftus Versveld, Western Province will have to deal with an all too familiar problem which has plagued them throughout this season.
Province’s resources at flyhalf have been severely stretched all season, to the point that first choice scrumhalf, Dewaldt Duvenhage has had to fill in on various occasions.
In Saturday’s 49-21 win over the Leopards, Duvenhage moved from scrumhalf to flyhalf for the last 22-minutes of the match, a move which seemed to add more fluency to Province’s backline play.
He may be called upon once again to provide spark to coach, Allister Coetzee’s backline, at the expense of Isma-eel Dollie, who failed to impress in his Currie Cup debut.
As it was reported in Monday’s Cape Times, Dollie seemed to be slightly off key in relation to his centres, namely Marcel Brache and Johann Sadie.
Another point of concern for Coetzee is Dollie’s ability to find distance from the boot as many of the flyhalf’s kicks on Saturday either put unnecessary pressure on the Province defence when clearing or did not give them as much of an advantage when advancing.
Therefore, Coetzee will mull over the possibility of leaving Dollie on the bench and starting with Duvenhage, but admits that WP’s sluggish start against the Leopards was not Dollie’s fault.
“I will go and look again, and then make a decision going forward. It would be very unfair to have expected fireworks from Isma-eel Dollie at 10, and even Dewaldt at 10. But we must make the best of the situation. To be honest, it’s not just him (Dollie),” Coetzee told the Cape Times.
