AUDIO: Province not 'thrilled' with defence
REACTION: The Western Province might have displayed some impeccable skills on attack, however, the side’s defence is still an area of concern for coach John Dobson.
Western Province ran in nine tries as their secured a 65-38 win over the Golden Lions in Johannesburg.
The visitors stunned the hosts as their scored five first-half tries for the 39-10 lead at the break.
The victory is the defending champions’ third win from three outings this season.
“We executed the plan of how we wanted to play and we got the result we wanted,” Dobson told reporters.
“Having said, that I think there were a couple of turning points in the first half which took the pressure off.
“The Lions put us under a lot of pressure defensively, and we knew with their steppers they will challenge us.
“But the bounce of the ball favoured us.
“This scoreline is a complete reversal of what we’ve had here over the last few years. For us, it is a massive turn around‚”
Dobson also mentioned the use of the rolling substitution played a vital part in the win.
“It has been one of those things I haven’t been particularly clever with this season‚” Dobson admitted about his use of his bench.
“Bringing Salman Moerat back on and Juarno ‘Trokkie’ Augustus late in the game, too ,meant we used the rolling subs really well. Other days it might backfire but it didn’t in this game,”
Despite their impressive precision on attack, the coach is fully aware of his side’s vulnerability in defence especially after conceding five tries.
“We weren’t overly thrilled by our defence. We knew that they had steppers and we had to catch up hard on them, which I don’t think we always did that well.
“At this pace and altitude against a team with that many steppers, you are always going to concede four tries. They are a really good attacking team.
“Two things in the negative column today were perhaps our maul defence because we conceded two maul tries and we gave them too many line breaks,” he said.
The Western Province take on the Griquas at Newlands on September 22.
