Western Province bewe ‘n bietjie for the “hardebaard” players at the high-flying Griffons ahead of Saturday’s clash in the Currie Cup at Cape Town Stadium (7pm).
The manne from Welkom outplayed the Blue Bulls in a 32-28 victory last week for not only a first Premier Division win of the millennium for the newly-promoted minnows, but also a first win over the Bulle since 1997.
Tipped in pre-season as the whipping boys of the 2023 competition, the Griffons skrik vir niks thanks to the likes of former Springbok wing Jamba Ulengo, towering lock Jaco Willemse and hard-running centre Marquit September.
🏟️ It's on this Saturday night at DHL Stadium!
— WP RUGBY (@WP_RUGBY) April 5, 2023
🏉 DHL WP vs NovaVit Griffons is at 20h30
📺 DHL Stormers' Heineken Champions Cup quarterfinal on the big screen from 18h30
🎟️ Buy your tickets now https://t.co/dWU4vLlfm4#wpjoulekkerding #DHLDelivers pic.twitter.com/SjfkbmaXa6
Willemse is an ex-WP age-group star, while September made headlines with a moerse hit on Cheetahs veteran Frans Steyn earlier this season.
WP are on a two-game losing run, and caretaker coach Labeeb Levy says: “Griffons are not a bad rugby team.
“Although they came up from the First Division, what they’ve done over the last three to four games, they’ve actually done very well.
“We know we’re in for a game and a half because they are matured players.
“Have a player like Jamba Ulengo – a Springbok.
“And some players, as they say innie Kaap, hardebaard - your 28- and 29-year-olds with six, seven, eight, nine years conditioning, and just big naturally and packaged quite huge.
“Jaco Willemse used to play for us and is probably the size of [former Bok lock] Kobus Wiese with all his strengths. We’re trying to plan our team accordingly.”
Hooker Scarra Ntubeni added: “We're definitely not going to be looking down on anyone and there’s a lot of quality players there, so it’s going to be tough and we’re going to try and stamp our authority early.”
Other Currie Cup fixtures
Friday: Bulls v Griquas (5pm), Sharks v Pumas (7.05pm). Sunday: Lions v Cheetahs (3pm).