By Francois de Wet
The Sanlam Boland Dames are one win away from qualifying for the Women’s Premier Division (WPD) Grand Final after beating Sharks Women 59-10 at Boland Stadium in Wellington this past Saturday.
But despite the big bonus point win Sanlam Boland Dames’ head coach, Thomas Chowles, wants his team to lift their standards as his players at the time did not have it all their way in what he described as his side’s worst performance of the WPD campaign thus far.
The Hermanus-based side is in second position on the log with 26 points, having won five of their six games. They face third-placed Western Province (25 points), who have also won five games. Both teams’ only defeat came against the unbeaten Bulls Daisies.
A win will be enough when they tackle their Western Cape neighbours on 22 March at City Park Stadium in Athlone, but then, Chowles says, his team need to stick to their game plan.
In summing up his side’s fifth bonus-point win of the campaign, Chowles says: “As a coach I have to probably be happy with what the scoreboard said, but we need to stick to our basics [and] our game plan and structures.
“We were very loose and [I have to give] credit to the Sharks Ladies for disrupting us and getting under skins and not allowing us to play our real game plan.”
“We were not as clinical as we were in our previous two games and we need to play [every game] to the right style and the right pattern.
“It was a good win – the scoreboard says so – but [sometimes] it can be good to have a good win like this while playing a bad game. We have had our bad game for the year now so we have to be ready for the next one.”
According to Chowles, his side’s biggest work will be to ensure they get their mindset right before they face WP in a fortnight.
“We have one more game left against Western Province and that will be the [Grand Final spot] decider. So, we have to make sure that we are switched on because we were very complacent today.
“There is not that much we need to go and change in terms of how we want to play the game. We need to stick to our game plan and put in the hard work over the next two weeks,” Chiles says.
Meanwhile, Sanlam Boland Dames captain and hattrick try-scoring hero Azeza Hele, agrees it was not a great performance but praised her team-mates for managing to fight past a disruptive Sharks Ladies and bag another important bonus point.
Hele says: “I am so happy with the performance today. The girls really pulled through in this [sweltering] heat and we are looking forward to the next game. I hope that we have taken the mistakes we made today on board and rectify them in the next game.”
SCORERS (half-time scores between brackets):
Sanlam Boland Dames 59 (24) – Tries: Nomawethu Mabenge, Buhle Sonamzi (2), Aseza Hele (3), Lulu Tyibilika and Yola Lumko (2). Conversions; Lara Schats (6) and Theresa Ruiters.
Sharks Women 10 (5) – Tries: Mbali Bukhosini and Silindile Dladla.