Despite a convincing 71-21 win in the fourth round of the SA Cup against the Phangela SWD Eagles, the Sanlam Boland Cavaliers are still searching for the ‘‘perfect game’’ as they gear up to face the unbeaten Suzuki Griquas in Kimberley this coming weekend.
And according to Cavas head coach, Hawies Fourie, it is going to take an 80-minute performance from his squad against the defending SA Cup champions who have won all four of their previous games with great ease.
As things stand on the SA Cup log, Griquas are sitting pretty at the top with 20 points, followed by the Airlink Pumas, a fellow unbeaten side, who are second on points difference.
The Novavit Griffons (16 points) are in third, followed by the Sanlam Boland Cavaliers on 13 points.
And remaining in the top four is going to be vital to Boland as it will see the Cape Winelands team qualify for the Currie Cup Premier Division.
But, for that to happen, Fourie says his team will need to make a huge step-up against a Griquas team that has not shown a lot of weaknesses.
“I believe this win needs to be a stepping stone that we can build on for our remaining games in the SA Cup,” says Fourie. “These remaining five weeks are going to be very important to our campaign, and there are still a lot of teams that are in the race to try and qualify for the Currie Cup Premier Division. We are certainly in for an interesting conclusion.”
However, the Kavas boss is concerned about his team’s second-half form over the previous four games and says of how they failed to put up a bigger score against the Eagles: “The game against the Eagles was one of two halves for us as a team. In the first half, we played well, and our tempo and intensity improved.
“We were accurate in executing our skills, but I was disappointed in our second-half performance. It took us a long time to reach the levels we were at in the first half.
“From a first half where we almost did not concede any penalties, we gave away quite a few from making silly errors which cost us our momentum. It is something that has been bothering since our round one game against the Toyota Cheetahs, where we were in the lead by 19-0 and just after halftime, we found ourselves down 26-22, and it is not ideal.
“It is almost the same trend as in the loss to the Griffons where we lost the second half 31-7 and against the Valke we lost the second half 17-5, so it is something we have been looking into as a coaching team and will try to rectify [ahead of the game against Griquas].”
Meanwhile, Fourie believes the win against the Eagles has lifted his team’s spirits but also warns his players to be ready for what could be their toughest challenge as they head to Kimberley.
“Griquas are a well-drilled team, and they are very well coached. They can score long-range tries and are very potent from turnover possession,” says the Cavas boss.
“On attack and defence, they seem to get everything right, so it will be a big challenge for us, but we are looking forward to it, and we’ll go to Kimberley with a bit more confidence than we had from the previous week.
“We owe ourselves a really good performance, especially heading into this stage of the competition. The guys have been working really hard, and we hope that we can build on the performance we had against SWD.”
Saturday’s game between the Sanlam Boland Cavaliers and the Suzuki Griquas from the Suzuki Stadium in Kimberley, kicks off at 14:00 and will be live-streamed on DStv Stream Channel 248.