Currie Cup
Botha: Currie Cup still strong
2011-07-20 19:09
Gary Botha (Gallo Images)
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Pretoria - Blue Bulls skipper Gary Botha said their first round loss to the Sharks proved the Currie Cup would not be a watered down competition with many of the Springbok players on international duty.
"It was a lapse in concentration as the structures are in place and at the end of the day it is all about executing," Botha said of their poor start.
"We saw in the first round what happens if you lose that concentration for a few seconds and quality teams would penalise you for that."
The Bulls struggled somewhat in the set phases against the Sharks but Pienaar said it was something they would address during the week.
"I felt that our struggles at the set phases were down to timing issues and it is something we need to fix," said Pienaar.
"It will improve as we spend more time together and I think it will be better by this weekend."
Pienaar said despite the bad start to their campaign, it was in their own hands to change their fortunes.
"It is our first home game (against the Cheetahs) and it is important to us as a side to we do well this coming weekend," he said.
Pienaar made no changes to his starting XV for their home game against the Free State Cheetahs on Saturday.
Teams:
Blue Bulls: 15 Jurgen Visser, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 Stephan Dippenaar, 12 Stefan Watermeyer, 11 Gerhard van den Heever, 10 Francois Brummer, 9 Dustin Jinka, 8 Gerrit-Jan van Velze, 7 Dewald Potgieter, 6 Derick Kuün, 5 Juandré Kruger, 4 Fudge Mabeta, 3 Rossouw de Klerk, 2 Gary Botha (captain), 1 Corné Fourie
Substitutes: 16 Willie Wepener, 17 Frik Kirsten, 18 Okkie Kruger, 19 CJ Stander, 20 Ruan Snyman, 21 Marnitz Boshoff, 22 Francois Venter
Free State Cheetahs:
TBA