Young Valke ready for the challenge
Local players selected for Valke’s U21 Currie Cup team.
Brakpan Rugby Club’s U21 side had a big 2022 season as they just lost to North-West University (NWU) in the Valke League finals.
Following those quality performances from the team, several Brakpan’s players were selected for the Valke’s U21 Currie Cup team.
Almost half of the 36-man squad comprises men who call the Bosman Stadium their home venue during the club season.
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Coach Darlton Botha is also one of the Valke coaches and he is happy to join the regional side. The young Valke side has already played two matches in this year’s Currie Cup.
They lost to the Griffons in an away match and beat South Western District (SWD) in Brakpan on Saturday. One can imagine that it could not have been easy to go into the Currie Cup just two weeks after the club finals.
“It’s a different challenge with the short amount of time that we’ve had. We started training right after the club final.
“With a lot of the players coming from NWU or Vereeniging we are restricted to just two training sessions per week,” said Botha.
“But we make it work and put in the graft. The first game in Welkom was a tough ask because they had been training together for three months.”
They lost that first match 30-14 after having gone behind 14-0 down early on. This past weekend they were better at home against SWD.
“We were able to take them to deep waters here at altitude and drown them,” said the coach.
Coaching the Valke side is new to Botha as he has never coached at Currie Cup level before.
“It’s a different experience. Getting players to adapt and know each other is new,” he said.
“One day these guys are going against each other in a final which is like a war between two factions and then two weeks later they are in the same team.”
Getting the combinations working will naturally be the most difficult part when you have players from different clubs having to play together.
“Rugby is such a physical sport. You need to care about the person next to you because you putting your body on the line for them. That could be difficult to do when you have to form that brotherhood in a short period,” said Botha.
“There’s no shortcut. You can’t make old friends.”
The mentor pointed out that they have managed to get together as a team and get to know and respect each other. The young Valke side travels to Middelburg this Saturday to face the Pumas this weekend.
