Province hard at work on basics
Their rucks, mauls and outside defence are areas of concern for Cape side
THE FREE State Cheetahs smell blood. And they would like nothing more than to rip the flesh off Western Province’s bones after the Blue Bulls exposed some of the Cape side’s shortcomings last weekend.
As fate would have it, the three areas where WP were found wanting last weekend – the breakdown, the driving maul and defending out wide – are aspects where the Cheetahs actually can hurt WP.
The Free State side were all over WP at the breakdown in their first meeting in torrential rain at Newlands.
And, while they will be without ace stealer and captain Boom Prinsloo tomorrow evening, they are still going to try their luck at the tackle area, especially after WP were also manhandled in that area by the Bulls last weekend.
It’s an issue that was also prevalent in Super Rugby, as the Stormers struggled to protect their ball in some key matches, while they also didn’t make an impact in slowing down opposition ball.
The WP boys were drilled at the breakdown this week by the coaching staff to get their technique right. But competing at the breakdown is also about attitude and being able to stand up in the face of the cleaners who want to nail you.
“The whole team needs to take responsibility for our rucks, because every team is now going to attack us at our breakdown – attacking or defending,” hooker Bongi Mbonambi said this week.
“The Cheetahs have good loosies who attack the breakdown, but we have to make sure that we get our first man in there and protect our breakdown from the start.”
The Cheetahs have a dangerous back three, who can hurt any team from broken play. So it’s going to essential that WP protect their ball, and not give the likes of Clayton Blommetjies and Sergeal Petersen any room to stretch their legs.
Mauling has become a key part of the Stormers and Western Province’s game over the last few years.
However, it’s also an area that hasn’t functioned well this year.
WP also seem to be vulnerable on their maul defence, because when the sack doesn’t work, they struggle to stop the attacking team from gaining metres, which ultimately leads to penalties.
However, the attacking maul is an area where WP can hurt the Cheetahs, as they struggled on defence against Griquas in their last match. And, with the line-out functioning like it should, they have worked hard to try and get momentum from the maul.
“We just want to do our job in terms of mauling,” Mbonambi said. “We have worked hard on our mauling, especially being tight in front. The Cheetahs come hard at the front, and we just sorted that out. I believe our maul is picking up.”
The one area where WP have been very impressive this year is in the scrums. They will be without the injured linchpin Oli Kebble tomorrow against the Cheetahs, but Mbonambi says his replacement Alistair Vermaak is just as powerful.
“We lost Oli, but Alistair is a great back-up for him. It’s like basically having the same pack with Alistair in, so there is nothing actually missing,” he said.
Being a former Bulls player, the defeat at Loftus probably hurt Mbonambi the most. And this weekend he is looking to take out his frustration against the Cheetahs.