THE TOP priority for the Windhoek Draught Griquas is to give every player possible a run in the matches of the Toyota Challenge tournament which at the weekend saw Emerging Ireland emerge victorious over the Diamond City side in Bloemfontein.
Griquas head coach Pieter Bergh was unshaken by the huge 54-7 margin by which they were beaten in their opening match at Bloemfontein stadium on Friday.
During Monday afternoon’s post match presser, Bergh was evidently concerned at the team’s injury inventory from that match ahead of their midweek clash with the Vodacom Blue Bulls.
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Bergh rattled off the names of the injured players, some of which are serious. Among the hospital list is Janco Venter who bowed out of the game with a concussion while Werner Gouws injured his elbow. The injury to Gouws is serious enough to warrant that the player undergo the cautionary MRI scan in the course of the week.
Despite the injuries the coach is still tied to the mission of getting the squad match fit and that means rotating the first 15 as frequently as needed. Griquas had in any event gone into this blended domestic and international contest with a slew of new signings after also losing the services of several players.
Team Announcement !
Injuries:
Eddie Davids
Andrew Beerwinkel
Gustav Du Rand
Andries Schutte
Derik Pretorius
Hanru Sirgel
Werner Gouws
Janco VenterURC:
Xander du Plessis
Sango Xamlashe#WindhoekDraughtGriquas #ToyotaChallenge pic.twitter.com/A6o1keQkBw— Griquas Rugby (@GriquasRugby) October 3, 2022
Bergh indicated that rotating his bench for the Wednesday match against the Bulls will be a must as he wants most of the new squad members to get acclimated with the team’s style of play ahead of the crunching domestic series which lies ahead of them.
The domestic series is understandably the Peacock Blues bread and butter as the central South Africa side is not among the locals favoured for participation in the high riding United Rugby Challenge that is the rage at the moment.
Bergh stressed on Monday that the anticipated changes to the side have nothing to do with adopting a tactical approach in the competition but rather that the match fitness focus was primary.
“In the pack Janco Uys will start at hooker while Janu Botha and Godfrey Muzanargwo will start off the bench and Carl Els will get his first game. I want to give everyone in our forward pack a start,” the coach said.
Reflecting on the match against the travelling Irish side, Bergh said the Griquas had a very difficult game against the visitors. However, it was still too early to judge whether the Irish were indeed a very good team.
“I think we will only know by the end of this week how good those guys really are when they (Irish) play both the Pumas and Cheetahs.
“In the attack we created a lot of chances but our execution was not good … The fact that we created a lot of stuff is a big positive for me. At this stage our decision making and how we attack that space is crucial.
“The biggest difference for me was that they were clinical in their exits,” Bergh continued. “The other positives for me was that a guy like Jaycee Nel has now played 160 minutes since returning from a long lay-off.”
Wednesday’s game against Griquas long time local rivals the Blue Bulls will kick off at 7pm, and Bergh’s sense is that the Bulls might be tempted to rest their dependable players and draft their junior players.
“It will definitely not be their Currie Cup side that will take to the field,” he said.
