EP’s rampant Elephants buried the Border Bulldogs 44-20 at the Madibaz Stadium on Friday to keep their hopes of securing a home Carling Currie Cup First Division semifinal alive.
The struggling Bulldogs were blown away by an emphatic first-half display by the home team, who went into the break with a 27-3 lead.
Border have lost all four of their opening games and will have to go back to the drawing board before a tough final match against the Griffons in Welkom on Saturday.
EP’s backs ran riot in the first half against a Border side who were slow out of the starting blocks in a one-sided encounter.
The Elephants outscored Border by eight tries to two thanks to five-pointers from Rodney Damons (2), Stefan Willemse, Diego Williams, Davian Swanepoel, Enrique Franks, Jayden Bantom and Masikane Mazwi.
EP coach Allister Coetzee expressed satisfaction with his team’s display, but said hard work needed to be done on the training field before Friday’s pivotal clash against the Falcons in Gqeberha.
“I was very pleased with our first-half performance against Border, which was clinical,” he said.
'In the second half, we created a bit of chaos for ourselves by not being as accurate as we would have liked.
“EP’s target is to earn five points in every game because if you are going for a playoff position you would like to have a home semifinal.
“So, after our win over Border, we are on track for a home semi and sitting with 16 points with our final league game against the Falcons to come.
“We turned over the ball too often and Border were good at the breakdown and that is where some work needs to be done.
Coetzee said EP’s goal-kickers had to improve their conversion rate when they faced the Falcons after they managed to convert only two of their eight tries against Border.
“If there was one area where we let ourselves down badly, it was missed conversions,” he said.
'Those points will be vital in tight playoff games.
“Our goal kickers need to be training at the Madibaz Stadium more often because we play here.
'We train at the Nelson Mandela Stadium B field and it is completely different, so we will make a plan to come here at least twice a week to do the goal-kicking.
“The wind swirls at the Madibaz Stadium and our goalkickers have to be up there as well with the number of tries we are scoring.
'I am very pleased with the way the team is taking ownership after our loss to the Griffons.
“It is just that I think we have to control the chaos better because there are too many turnovers for my liking.
“EP are trying to keep opponents to under four tries and we have been successful at that.
“Border scored only two tries, so that is good from a defensive point of view.”
Disappointed Border coach Dumisani Mhani said his team had lost the game in the first half.
“We put ourselves under pressure and we ended up having to chase the game from behind and that is not easy against a professional side like EP,” he said.
“Border let the game go in the first 20 minutes and then it got difficult for us and EP were the better side on the day.
'The yellow cards are costing us and you cannot play with 13 men and that put pressure on the other guys.
“So Border could not get the go-forward ball they were looking for and we could not get a foothold in the game.
“We will sit down on Monday and talk about these things and address these issues which are costing us.
'Border are not a bad side, it’s only that things do not gel because not everybody is pulling in the same direction.”
Scorers:
EP Elephants 44: Tries: Rodney Damons (2), Stefan Willemse, Diego Williams, Davian Swanepoel, Enrique Franks, Jayden Bantom, Masikane Mazwi. Conversions: Chadwyn November, Oliver Zono.
Border Bulldogs 20: Oyisa Balekile, Sethu Zenani. Conversions: Maxwell Klaasen (2). Penalties: Klaasen (2).
Other results: Leopards 7 Griffons 59, Falcons 54 SWD Eagles 26
Log (all teams have played four matches): Falcons 20, Griffons 16, EP Elephants 16, SWD Eagles 9, Leopards 6, Border Bulldogs 2.
The Herald
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