Valke eye home semi
Saturday’s win over EP at home was one that showed the team’s resolute.
The Valke’s U21 side is well on their way to securing a home semi-final in the Currie Cup Shield tournament.
The rugby side, which is based at Brakpan’s Bosman Stadium, is currently on a three-match winning streak after beating South Western District, Pumas and Eastern Province.
Saturday’s win over EP at home was one that showed the team’s resolute. Playing with 14 men due to a red card for most of the game, the locals had to dig deep to pull off the victory.
“We were down to 14 men from the 35th minute,” said coach Darlton Botha.
“We were also down by 11 points with five minutes to go at the end of the match. We scored two quick tries to win the game. We stole it at the death.”
The Valke won the 37-36 with Divan Swart, Easton Arendse (twice), Jacques Blignaut, Adri Kermis and George Giesing all scoring tries.
“We didn’t play our best rugby but we showed a lot of character to pull that game through, you know the will to win even when it wasn’t easy.”
The Valke will be in Kimberly to face Griquas on Saturday.
“If we can beat them on Saturday we’ll have a home semi-final,” said Botha.
“We’ll probably leave on Friday and it’s like a six-hour journey. Have a captain’s run there and sleep over.”
ALSO READ: 11-Jarige woeker met talente
Botha is happy with how the team, which comprises mostly of players from Brakpan and North-West University (the two teams which faced each other in the recent club finals), has gelled.
“The side has come together nicely. The guys have started to trust each other,” he said.
Going into this weekend’s match the Valke is confident that they will return with a win under their belts.
“If you look at the results of the other games we’ve beaten two teams who beat them (Griquas). But it’s hard in Kimberly and we don’t expect them to give us a win for free. We’ll have to fight for it,” said the Botha.
ALSO READ: Pedal Power Association embarks on campaign to promote safety of riders
While things have been mostly positive for the side, they have not been immune to the problems the country has been facing.
“Just last week we had load-shedding at the stadium and we had to train in Kempton Park,” said the local coach.
“The distractions are something we don’t need.”
While the power cuts have not interrupted their matches as all the games have been played during the afternoons, the distractions when they have the evening practices have annoyed the Valke.
