Western Province are on guard for the physical challenge posed by the Griffons when the teams clash in the Currie Cup at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday.
In a thrilling encounter last week, the Griffons showed plenty of heart to outplay the fancied Vodacom Bulls and claim a dramatic 32-28 victory in Welkom.
Not only was it a first Premier Division win of the millennium for the newly-promoted minnows, but it was also a first win over the Bulls since 1997, when they won 36-32 at Loftus Versfeld.
Easily dismissed as a threat to the top teams before the start of rugby’s oldest competition in 2023, the Griffons are punching above their weight thanks to strong performances from the likes of Springbok wing Jamba Ulengo, towering lock Jaco Willemse and hard-running centre Marquit September.
Willemse rose through the WP age-group ranks before making his way to the northern Free State, while the sizable September has announced himself as a blockbuster talent in midfield, and caught the eye with a massive hit on Cheetahs veteran Frans Steyn in round 2.
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Speaking in the build up to Saturday’s encounter in Cape Town, WP interim head coach Labeeb Levy told reporters: “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 in fact, except for the Cheetahs who knocked them out of the park.
“They’re having a good tournament thus far if you look at their results, and were always in the game. They played well and led the Sharks for a large portion of their game, they led the Lions … and they beat the Bulls.
“So 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 [in Cape Town], [are] 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. So we know we’re in for it and we’re trying to plan our team accordingly and where we want to play the game.”
Hooker Scarra Ntubeni added: “We’re alright with Jaco, watched a bit of him and we’re not too stressed and obviously have a lot of respect for him.
“So 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 a tough game and we’re going to try and stamp our authority early.
“If you watch the Griffons against the Lions, they smell blood and get a few early tries and they stay in the fight, so I think that’s what we’re going to have to do.”
Frans Steyn, meet Marquit September ?
Inside centre ? inside centre!
The Griffons player bringing that ‘Sepmagic’ ?#CurrieCup pic.twitter.com/pW2somya0V
— SuperSport ? (@SuperSportTV) March 19, 2023
Photo: Sydney Mahlangu/BackpagePix