The sixth round of SA Cup rugby competition concluded at the weekend with the Border Bulldogs nowhere near turning their fortunes around after they were handed another drubbing by the Boland Kavaliers in Wellington.
The 74-5 loss at the Boland Stadium highlighted the widening gap between struggling teams and their well-resourced counterparts, with fellow strugglers the EP Elephants and the Leopards also losing by big margins.
Smarting from a heavy 94-5 walloping by the Airlink Pumas at home, the Bulldogs’ hopes of springing a surprise were dashed as early as the first minute when the Kavaliers dotted down, courtesy of Xavier Mitchell, with James Tedder converting.
The hosts did not rest on their laurels as they applied relentless pressure, with Joshua Eras increasing the score with a try eight minutes later.
Tedder again did the honours, before Mitchell scored his second converted try.
Eras was back on the scoresheet as the Bulldogs appeared to be rattled by the onslaught.
The Kavaliers, who were coming off two successive losses, were determined to rebound in style as they put the hapless visitors to the sword.
Jaydon Mike Bantom registered his name on the scoresheet before the Bulldogs pulled one back via a Lonwabo Rawana try to take the score to 33-5 at the break.
Just as the Bulldogs had capitulated after the interval in their previous matches, they wilted spectacularly again as the Kavaliers ran riot.
Mitchell secured his hat-trick four minutes after the break, with Tedder again proving excellent with his boot.
It was one-way traffic after that as Bulldogs coach Dumisani Mhani’s attempts to reignite his players’ fighting spirit by making a series of substitutes yielded nothing.
Instead, the Kavaliers tightened their grip, with Bantom securing his brace and Mitchell scoring his fourth try before he was taken off.
By this time, the referee could have intervened and stopped proceedings as if it were a boxing match, as the Bulldogs were getting hammered.
The Kavaliers landed two more tries to leave the Bulldogs rooted at the bottom of the log without a point.
While the Bulldogs have been the hardest hit in the SA Cup, the issue of “haves” and “have-nots” was ruthlessly exposed at the weekend, when the Leopards were handed an 85-0 defeat by the Pumas in Nelspruit and the Elephants got drubbed 52-9 by the Griquas in Gqeberha.
Though other teams were evenly matched, such as the SWD Eagles going down 26-17 to the Cheetahs, mismatches have rung alarm bells regarding SA Rugby’s continuation with the competition.
Mhani offered no excuses for the loss, insisting his team were outplayed in Wellington despite throwing in players returning from Varsity Shield competition.
“There are plenty of areas we still need to work on before we could be on par with some of the teams in the competition, but we will not throw in the towel,” he said.
The Bulldogs will need to regroup for the clash against their provincial neighbours, the Elephants, in Gqeberha on Friday.
Daily Dispatch
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