‘Soft system errors’ prove costly for WP at Loftus

Western Province may have registered just a lone win in their Currie Cup campaign so far, but they will be encouraged by their performance in the 50-34 defeat to the Blue Bulls at the weekend.

The Cape side let a 27-3 lead slip to go down under a second-half onslaught from the Pretoria outfit at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday. But they will hope to carry on the good things in their next encounter against the Griffons at Cape Town Stadium this Saturday (5.15pm start).

Their kicking game was particularly impressive in the opening 40 minutes at Loftus, where flyhalf Jurie Matthee and inside centre Jonathan Roche gained significant rewards for the visitors.

Mixing things up from their usual all-out ball-in-hand approach should stand them in good stead for the rest of the competition, but attack coach Dawie Snyman rued the lost opportunity that saw Province go down for the third time in four matches.

“I was quite disappointed with the loss. We were in the game even in the second half when the Bulls played well,” Snyman said.

“It was a two-point game at one stage, and if we got momentum, we could’ve got close.

“Building experience for us is also winning these types of games, and learning from it as young players. A guy like Jurie at flyhalf needs to drive the game, and that’s sort of our mindset right now.

“The Bulls started to get momentum physically, and that’s hard to stop at Loftus.

Four tries and a bonus point in defeat at Loftus. #BULvWP #wpjoulekkerding #dhldelivers #WhereChampionsRise pic.twitter.com/uIXfZwD8zO

— WP RUGBY (@WP_RUGBY) July 27, 2024

“I told the boys at half-time ‘don’t think the job’s done’. The Bulls have got a quality bench, and they knew at altitude the last 20 minutes is always a bit of a challenge.

“In that first 20 after half-time we weren’t good enough, and that’s probably where the game went away (from WP), and the Bulls replacements did the job.

“I knew the Bulls would come out firing as they wouldn’t have been happy with that first half.

“We made one or two mistakes from a system point of view, and that gave them momentum.”

The early departures of props Lizo Gqoboka and Ali Vermaak made life difficult for a Province side that had only five forwards on their bench compared to the Bulls’ six, and that extra big man up front made a real difference to the hosts’ comeback effort in the second half.

WP, though, will hope to get back to winning ways against the Griffons on Saturday, and some of the youngsters such as Roche and flank Divan Fuller can build on their busy displays at Loftus.

“We allowed the Bulls to get onto a bit of a roll in that second half. Credit to them, they knew what they had to do at the start of that second half,” Snyman said.

“We were quite clear in terms of no soft moments from the restart, and we were a little bit out of our system, and they went on to score.

“It’s a learning for the boys, and that injury to Lizo – and Ali had to go on early – also had an influence in how we could manage the game.”