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Cape Town - Western Province coach John Dobson wore a big smile after his team's 29-14 Currie Cup win over the Blue Bulls at Newlands last Friday.
The 2014 champions kept their home playoff chances alive with a well-executed three tries to one victory - a result which also made up for their disappointing away loss to the selfsame Bulls in Pretoria last month.
“I was very pleased with the result,” told the WP Rugby website. “We had some plans and I think they obviously came off.
“I was a bit frustrated that we didn’t keep on attacking like we did in the first twenty minutes. Our old enemies, errors and penalties, started to cost us a bit, but I think we deserved the win - despite also missing out on the fourth try in the end.”
Speaking about his team’s tactics on the night against the Bulls, Dobson explained: “Our plan wasn’t to stop them, but, rather, about us winning our own breakdown and us getting through some phases. Our plan was to get quick ball and we got those two early tries (with quick ball).
“We were a lot more focused on our game - than theirs - and I actually thought they blinked first with the team they chose for the match,” added Dobson, who was very happy with his team’s 100% lineout effort on the night.
However, Dobson - forever the perfectionist - found a few negatives in his team’s performance, once again lamenting their poor discipline and inability to sustain their attack, which had WP leading by 12-0 after ten minutes.
“I am really frustrated with our discipline… we’re still giving away too many penalties,” said the WP coach. “Full credit to (referee) Rasta Rasivhenge, he worked really hard on the off-sides with both teams, which is the right thing for rugby. That we didn’t adapt to that was frustrating.
“Secondly, we did not keep (up) our sustained attack. Our attack has evolved nicely over the past few weeks, but we need to keep it going rather than making unnecessary errors.
“The Bulls have attacked very well this year,” added Dobson, who praised the WP defensive effort. “I enjoy the Bulls’ (new) style of rugby, but their only try was scored from a grubber - which I think we could’ve handled better, so I was very chuffed with our defence.”
However, in some potentially bad news on the injury front, hooker Scarra Ntubeni picked up a calf muscle injury after coming on as a replacement in the 48th minute, and fullback Cheslin Kolbe limped off a minute later with a leg injury.
“Scarra’s injury is a bit worrying and Cheslin has gone off for a scan. On the upside, Nizaam Carr played almost 40 minutes and (hooker) Michael Willemse looks to be back from his long-term knee injury, which would help us were Scarra to be ruled out,” said Dobson.
“We might make a few changes either way to keep the hunger in the team against the Pumas, as need to keep that momentum and hunger going into the playoffs.”
