Captain against the Suzuki Griquas, Lunathi Nxele has urged his Sanlam Boland Cavaliers side to continue raising their standards despite Saturday’s round-five SA Cup loss in Kimberley.
The Cavas lost the entertaining and nail-biting clash against the defending SA Cup champions by 41-36, putting the Boland team out of the top four positions in the standings.
It was a game that Boland could have easily won if it was not for going down to 13 players in the final quarter of the match, after flyhalf Ashlon Davids and regular captain Thurlow Marsh both got yellow carded.
The Griquas capitalised on the numerical advantage, scoring three converted tries in the final 10 minutes to resign the Cavas to their third defeat of the season.
Replacement forward Ludio Williams, however, ensured the Cavas would return back to Wellington with two losing bonus points and keep themselves in contention for a top four finish and qualification to this year’s Currie Cup Premier Division.
To reach the Currie Cup top division, Nxele and his teammates have to win all their remaining games, starting with this coming weekend’s trip to the Eastern Cape, where they face a winless Border Bulldogs team.
PROUD NXELE
Nxele says: “As a team, we know where we stand now. And I am proud of the boys and the way they performed today; they put up their hands regarding the performance. We did our best to lift everything on the field, and it is one of those games where you play against a good team, and then they capitalise on the last moments of the game.
“We will learn from this and bounce back from it, and I am proud of the boys in terms of how they kept Griquas under pressure the entire game and fought for each other until the dying moments.”
“Also, the plan that was given to us by the coaches, we followed it very well, and I guess we [showed] we are a quality side in terms of where we stand as a [bigger] team. From now on, going forward, I think we know what we have to do and what is expected from us.”
Cavas head coach Hawies Fourie also lauded his players’ performance despite the loss. He says that after going down to 13 players against a Griquas team with dangerous outside backs, it would always be tough for his team to hold on to their 10-point lead during the championship minutes of the game.
“They exploited the numerical advantage very well with tactical kicks into gaps behind our defensive line, and when you have only 13 players on the field, you are limited as to how many players you can utilise in the backfield,” Fourie says.
“However, we kept on fighting, and the try we scored in the 80th minute to get the additional bonus point (for losing by less than seven) is going to be vital.
“We are still in the race to get back inside the top four and qualify for the Currie Cup Premier Division and today we proved we can compete with any team in the competition.
“Griquas are the in-form team at the moment, and we managed to give them a hard time on their home ground, so there is a lot of confidence that we can take out of this game,” he adds.