'Transitional' Griquas have plenty of potential

REACTION: Griquas have high ambitions, but they know that their obvious 'potential' will not automatically translate into success.

The Currie Cup semifinalists showed promise, at times, in their opening round 20-30 loss to the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein at the weekend.

However, they are a team in transition and coach Pieter Bergh is well aware that they have plenty to work on to achieve their goals.

He spoke about the fact that 12 players in the matchday 23 made their Currie Cup debut against a Cheetahs team with a couple of veteran Springboks driving the hosts.

It resulted in a few errors and penalties that gave the Cheetahs a handy half-time lead - 23-3.

"Overall I felt we really did well," Bergh said, adding that to keep the Cheetahs from getting a bonus point on their home turf was worthy of praise for the visitors.

"We can be very proud of the effort.

"The 12 guys who made their debut will learn a hell-of-a-lot from this outing.

He singled out players like centre Rynhardt Jonker and flyhalf Zander du Plessis - who had the likes of two-time World Cup winner Frans Steyn in the opposing backline.

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"It is a massive experience for them."

Rookie lock Derik Pretorius, discarded by the Cheetahs, certainly left his mark on the game.

"He dominated the line-outs.

"There is a lot of potential in this team," the coach added.

"If we can develop them in the next year or two, we can become a really strong team."

He admitted that their focus will remain on improving their set-pieces.

However, he cautioned against the expectations of a repeat of last year's semifinal appearances.

"Every team goes through a transitional period and we keep hearing that we must reach the play-offs again - because we were in the semifinals last year.

"That will always be our dream and it is our goal to win the Currie Cup.

"Only eight players remained from last year's semifinal, it is a brand new team and we are going through a transition.

"When you have a good year, like last year, a team like Griquas will lose a number of players.

"We have to build from scratch again and the rebuilding has begun.

"We want to win while we are building.

"If we were more clinical, we would have had a chance to win, but there is a lot to be proud of."

Captain Ruan Steenkamp said the team executed the plan very well, but ball retention was an issue - which often saw the booming boots of Frans Steyn and Clayton Blommetjies driving them back into their own half.

"If we can sort out some of those minor issues, the scoreboard will look different," he said.

"The [young] guys will mature as the season progresses and make better decisions.

"I am looking forward to the progress we are going to make as the season unfolds."

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