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Cape Town – Western Province’s season could be defined by Saturday’s Currie Cup clash against the Blue Bulls in Pretoria, Robbie Fleck believes.
“It’s a massive game for both sides. The winner will not just be sure of a place in the semifinals, but also have the inside track for home advantage in the semifinal,” said the WP backline coach.
“It’s the kind of match that can be season-defining. That has to be our approach this week. You can’t afford to be 1% off your game. We need a semifinal at Newlands and need the victory.”
Fleck says that the seriousness of the clash has been reflected by the intensity in WP’s training sessions this week.
Province are probably in better form than the Bulls, but the Pretoria-based outfit are a champion team that performs under pressure.
“We don’t consider ourselves the favourites,” said Fleck.
“The Bulls have showed that they can beat anyone on their home ground. We saw that against the Sharks recently.”
Province will take a lot of motivation from losses in recent key matches against their arch-rivals from the North.
Last year’s Currie Cup semifinal is just as fresh in the memory banks as the Super 14 final in Soweto.
The Bulls were triumphant in both those games, but it’s also clear that WP is once again a major factor in South African rugby.
The question is just when that elusive gold trophy will stand in the Newlands trophy cabinet again.
“It was disappointing to lose last year’s Currie Cup semifinal and also this year’s Super 14 final. We came to the conclusion that we need to work just as hard as the Bulls if we want to be successful. That is exactly what we have done,” said Fleck.
Province has major strike power at the back, but Fleck emphasises the importance of playing the game in the right areas.
“A part of the game will definitely be trench warfare. The Bulls and WP are teams that kick a lot. You can’t just run from everywhere against the Bulls,” said Fleck.
“It’s important to play in the right areas, but at the same time we also need to use our strike power. Jean de Villiers, Juan de Jongh and Gio Aplon are guys that make a big difference and it will be stupid not to use their talent.”
Cape Town – Western Province’s season could be defined by Saturday’s Currie Cup clash against the Blue Bulls in Pretoria, Robbie Fleck believes.
“It’s a massive game for both sides. The winner will not just be sure of a place in the semifinals, but also have the inside track for home advantage in the semifinal,” said the WP backline coach.
“It’s the kind of match that can be season-defining. That has to be our approach this week. You can’t afford to be 1% off your game. We need a semifinal at Newlands and need the victory.”
Fleck says that the seriousness of the clash has been reflected by the intensity in WP’s training sessions this week.
Province are probably in better form than the Bulls, but the Pretoria-based outfit are a champion team that performs under pressure.
“We don’t consider ourselves the favourites,” said Fleck.
“The Bulls have showed that they can beat anyone on their home ground. We saw that against the Sharks recently.”
Province will take a lot of motivation from losses in recent key matches against their arch-rivals from the North.
Last year’s Currie Cup semifinal is just as fresh in the memory banks as the Super 14 final in Soweto.
The Bulls were triumphant in both those games, but it’s also clear that WP is once again a major factor in South African rugby.
The question is just when that elusive gold trophy will stand in the Newlands trophy cabinet again.
“It was disappointing to lose last year’s Currie Cup semifinal and also this year’s Super 14 final. We came to the conclusion that we need to work just as hard as the Bulls if we want to be successful. That is exactly what we have done,” said Fleck.
Province has major strike power at the back, but Fleck emphasises the importance of playing the game in the right areas.
“A part of the game will definitely be trench warfare. The Bulls and WP are teams that kick a lot. You can’t just run from everywhere against the Bulls,” said Fleck.
“It’s important to play in the right areas, but at the same time we also need to use our strike power. Jean de Villiers, Juan de Jongh and Gio Aplon are guys that make a big difference and it will be stupid not to use their talent.”
