Rugby
Griquas will go down fighting─── MORGAN PIEK 10:23 Fri, 06 Sep 2024
“There’s a very good vibe in the team and the guys want to finish on a high. Many players are playing their last matches for Griquas this week and want to end on a high.”
The Suzuki Griquas are determined to go out with a bang this afternoon when they tackle Western Province in Kimberley in the Currie Cup. For both teams, it will be their last matches of the campaign as they are out of contention for the semi-finals.
The Griquas want to send numerous players off with a win, while Province in turn named several of their URC players for the match.
The Peacock Blues in turn made a late change to their team on Friday morning with Lubabalo Dobela pulling out through injury. Zinedine Robinson will now start at flyhalf, while Tylor Sefoor comes onto the bench.
Lubabalo Dobela. Picture: Morgan Piek
The Griquas coach, Pieter Bergh, told OFM Sport that it’s important to back up last week’s win against the Cheetahs.
“There's a very good vibe in the team and the guys want to finish on a high,” said Berth. “Many players are playing their last matches for Griquas this week and want to end on a high. As a group, this is our last match together before players move on and new players join.
“It’s always exciting. So we’re expecting a very, very strong Western province team. But, I told the players the game gets played on grass, not on paper. We’ve shown in the past that we can beat a strong Western Province team coming here and we have to build on the previous few weeks.
“We played really well against the Griffons, we played really well against the Bulls away, and then we played well against the Cheetahs. This is definitely not a team that’s down in the dumps, feeling sorry for themselves, and dead and buried because we can’t make a semi-final.
“We’ve played some good rugby and we’re playing better rugby towards the end of the season. So hopefully it can be a good game and people can come out and support us for one last time this year.”
Friday afternoon’s match, which is in aid of breast cancer awareness, at the Suzuki Stadium kicks off at 15:00.
Griquas - 15 Connor Mahoney, 14 Dylan Maart, 13 Zane Bester, 12 Tertius Kruger, 11 Sako Makata, 10 Zinedine Robinson, 9 Thomas Bursey, 8 Carl Els, 7 Marco de Witt (captain), Thabo Ndimande, 5 Derik Pretorius, 4 Dylan Sjoblom, 3 Janu Botha, 2 Dandré Delport, 1 Leon Lyons
Replacements - 16 Gustav du Rand, 17 Eddie Davids, 18 Cebo Dlamini, 19 Albert Liebenberg, 20 Hanru Sirgel, 21 Bobby Alexander, 22 Tylor Sefoor, 23 Mnombo Zwelendaba
Western Province - 15 Luke Burger, 14 Angelo Davids, 13 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 12 Dan du Plessis (captain), 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Jurie Matthee, 9 Paul de Wet, 8 Louw Nel, 7 Dave Ewers, 6 Marcel Theunissen, 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Ruben van Heerden, 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Sti Sithole.
Replacements - 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Adré Smith, 20 Ben-Jason Dixon, 21 Stefan Ungerer, 22 Wandisile Simelane, 23 Damian Markus
