Kimberley won't win game for Griquas

Griquas will have plenty motivation to get one over on their Central Unions franchise partners when they host the Free State Cheetahs in Kimberley on Saturday.

While most pundits feel the rock-hard surface in this Northern Cape town will be Griquas' biggest ally in this Currie Cup encounter, coach Pote Human feels they have other reasons to be 'up for it'.

Certain individuals, according to the Griquas mentor, can make a statement to the Super  Rugby selectors for the 2013 season.

"The Cheetahs were very impressive against the Bulls and they will arrive here [in Kimberley] with a lot of confidence," Human said of a Free State team that bounced back from a 20-43 first-round loss to the Golden Lions to beat the Blue Bulls 32-18 last week.

"We respect them, as a lot of those players featured for the Cheetahs in Super Rugby.

"For our players it is an opportunity to show Naka [Drotské, the Cheetahs Super Rugby coach] that we [the Griquas players] also belong there," he added.

These Central Union derbies are often on par with the big north-south derbies between the Bulls and Western Province.

Human felt that his team will need to produce something spectacular if they want to secure their first win of the season – having lost 20-35 (the Bulls in Pretoria) and 20-25 (to Western Province in Kimberley last week).

"We were fortunate to beat them here [in Kimberley] last year and then they got one over on us in Bloemfontein," he said of their 2011 encounters.

"They will know it is tough [to win] in Kimberley, but Kimberley won't win the game for us – the players will have to produce the good on the field."

By Jan de Koning