A limping Elephants side are determined to bounce back with an improved showing when they face the Border Bulldogs in a Carling Currie Cup First Division clash in KuGompo City on Friday, EP coach Allister Coetzee says.
A concerned Coetzee read the riot act to his under-performing players after they slumped to an error-riddled 49-28 defeat against the Valke in Kempton Park in their opening First Division outing last week.
Coetzee said changes to his starting line-up are on the cards as EP bid to redeem themselves after a poor all-round display at the Barnard Stadium.
He knows that nothing less than a convincing win on the road against a struggling Bulldogs side at Police Park will be good enough to get the Elephants back on track (kickoff 3pm).
The First Division, a second-tier event below the Currie Cup Premier Division, is more of a sprint than a marathon, with only a single round of five matches to determine which teams qualify for the semifinals.
After ending in a disappointing seventh spot in the 10-team SA Cup earlier in the season, EP have set their sights on reaching the First Division semifinals.
EP were slow out of the starting blocks at Kempton Park and found themselves trailing 21-0 after only 18 minutes against a fired-up home team.
“I will have to look at making a couple of changes this week even if they are not injury-enforced,” Coetzee said. “We will have to give other players an opportunity to shine.
“It was our first game, and the only positive is that we earned a bonus point in Kempton Park. The errors were so costly and it was just basics.
“There are four more games left in the competition, and now we will look ahead to the Border game and put this one behind us. So we will take it game by game and see where we finish.
“I am not despondent, but I will be hard on the players leading up to the Border game.”
EP’s try scorers against the Valke were Christian Potgieter, Buhle Nojekwa, Siya Nzuzo and CJ Velleman. Flyhalf Garth April booted three conversions and Maxwell Klaasen one.
Apart from the Valke, the SWD Eagles and Griffons also made winning starts to their First Division campaigns last week. The Griffons overpowered the Border Bulldogs 52-19 in KuGompo City, and the Eagles came from behind to edge the Leopards 44-38 in Potchefstroom.
The Griffons established early dominance with a sixth-minute try by Simon Westraadt. Border responded swiftly, taking a brief lead through tries from Lonwabo Rawana and Luvumo Makata, both converted by Khanya Kama.
However, the match swung decisively in the 25th minute when Border’s Mihlali Nchukana received a yellow card.
Shortly afterwards, the Griffons were awarded a penalty try, and the Bulldogs were reduced to 13 men after Dillan Kromhout was sin-binned. Capitalising on the numerical advantage, Asekho Marubelela and Westraadt crossed the line to give the Griffons a commanding 31-14 halftime lead.
Border opened the second half with a try from Unathi Mayekiso, but their momentum was quickly halted as Marubelela secured his brace in the 46th minute.
The Griffons closed out the match with late tries from Daylon Myners and Adriaan Carelse, earning an important bonus-point away win.
Fixtures
Friday: Border Bulldogs vs EP Elephants
Saturday:
- SWD Eagles vs Valke,
- Griffons vs Leopards.
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