John Dobson says Western Province are focusing on keeping their players conditioned, while taking every precaution to ensure any potential Covid-19 impact is minimised ahead of their Currie Cup semi-final next week.
Having finished the league phase of the competition in second place in the standings, WP will host the Sharks at in a semi-final at Newlands on Saturday, 23 January.
Following the postponement of the playoffs by a week as a precautionary measure due to Covid-19, WP on Wednesday confirmed that the squad’s training schedule for the week has been adjusted accordingly.
Players are training in groups of five, without rugby balls and while maintaining social distancing, in an effort to ensure that as many of them as possible are available for selection for the semi-final.
Dobson says they’re doing everything they can to ensure the players are fit and firing for the knockout match.
‘We have earned the right to host a Currie Cup semi-final at Newlands and we want to do everything we can to put out a strong team for that game next week,’ he said.
‘We are fortunate that we had done a lot of technical analysis on the Sharks in preparation for our final league game against them which was cancelled.
‘The players are doing a lot of analysis of their own this week and we are holding regular meetings online, but we are limiting physical interaction as much as we can.
‘SA Rugby deserves enormous credit for how they have got rugby back on the field and to the sharp end of this great competition. I think we are very grateful for that, as unusual as it’s been,’ Dobson explained.
He added that the squad is looking forward to getting back together as a group and building towards what could be the last-ever semi-final at Newlands.
‘This week we are working on conditioning and technical analysis so that we can give it a full crack next week for the semi-final.
‘Our players and coaches cannot wait to get stuck in next week and ensure that the team that runs out at Newlands is as well prepared as possible.’
Photo: Gallo Images
