Long shots to progress to the Currie Cup semi-finals, Western Province are instead focused on putting on a show in their final home game of the season.
Following a surprise loss to Griquas in Kimberley, Western Province go into the final round of fixtures on Saturday in a difficult spot with regard to their hopes of a Currie Cup playoff.
Province currently sit in sixth place and trail the fourth-placed Vodacom Bulls by just four points. However, if they are to make the top four, they will not only need to beat a high-flying Sharks convincingly, but also hope that the Bulls, Lions and Griquas also lose their respective fixtures.
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Speaking during a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, assistant coach Labeeb Levy said instead of putting extra pressure on themselves to pull out a result, Province are instead going through this week with a more positive mentality.
“We’ve got a plan. I must commend our players. Every week we have a similar plan but we do tweak it according to our opponent and when the URC players come down, they can adapt to the plan.
“Our mindset, if it is going to be our last game, we want the guys to play lekker. They must play nice. We want them to give each other energy. If it is our last, they must end off on a high. If we get another opportunity, then that is next week’s problem. We want the players to enjoy themselves on Saturday. The team thrives on that positive energy.
“We have had a good season. We don’t want that Griquas game to be the defining point. We have had good success, brought through a lot of players and we can use this game to help us next season.”
Province will be back at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday after playing their last couple of home fixtures in Athlone.
The state of the pitch was a major talking point in the build-up to and in the aftermath of the Vodacom URC final, when John Dobson admitted that the Stormers struggled to adapt against Munster.
“We haven’t played there in the last couple of weeks, so I don’t know exactly, but it has had an extra week of rest,” said Levy. “We haven’t trained there last week so that would have given it a rest. We will only have our captain’s run there and that will be very light.
“It should be in a better state than the final, but it is winter in Cape Town, so there might be some droplets coming down. Both teams are playing on the same pitch so we have to adapt. It is what it is. The pitch is the pitch.”
Photo: Carl Fourie/Gallo Images