The SRC is not won in May, but keep an eye on Boland

After just two rounds, it’s obviously early days in this year’s SuperSport Rugby Challenge, but if there is anything resembling a dark horse – or even a team which will prove stubborn to beat – in the competition thus far it has to be the Boland Cavaliers.

Having put the Eastern Province Elephants away (34-6) and scrapped to within an inch of their collective lives against the Toyota Free State Cheetahs XV to emerge 21-10 victors, Randall Modiba’s men are sitting a surprise second to DHL Western Province in a South Pool also including the Cell C Sharks XV.

While it makes sense to be cautious as it is, after all, the month of May to which Naas Botha referred all those years ago, the catch is this Rugby Challenge season is a single round affair between eight teams in the pools followed by the semifinals and final, meaning a good start is paramount to still be in the hunt when the business end of the tournament rolls around.

Like all gamblers Modiba is understandably not counting his money just yet, but he sounded a proud coach after his charges beat a Cheetahs XV which not only is the satellite side of a Pro 14 franchise but was responsible for ending Province’s unbeaten run in the competition last year.

“It’s still early in the season and there’s a lot of hard work to be done,” said Modiba. “We’re not to underestimate the other teams or think of ourselves as the team to beat. It was a tough physical encounter and the Cheetahs brought a lot of physicality to the game.

“But the response from our guys was great – it was a performance to be proud of.”

Surprisingly, the aspects of the game with which Modiba was happiest were areas you’d expect a bigger team to dominate: “We had a good forwards display, we dominated the set pieces, we knew the Cheetahs would be hard at the breakdown but we retained ball well there.

“The defence was good like it was the week before and I thought the leaders within the team were great. There were some critical moments during the game but they kept clear heads and got us through them.”

Modiba credited the encouraging start to heavy recruitment during the off-season: “It was critical to get new blood so we had a total revamp in terms of the core of the team – we lost a couple of guys – and brought in some new guys. We’ve also blended them with club players because it’s important that we give exposure to club players from the area in this competition.”

The new talent isn’t exactly without pedigree. Lock Adriaan Ludick is a Namibian international, while prop Wikus Groenewald is a former SA Under-19 and Western Province player, while hooker Neil Rautenbach is another former Province man and a part time investment banker.

Well-travelled flyhalf Garrick Mattheus (Tuks, Bulls and Southern Kings) may still only be 23, but he has brought a measure of control for Boland at this level, while Modiba says 19-year-old winger from Saldanha Bay, Shilton van Wyk is, well, a keeper.

“I rate him as a promising player for the future if you’re talking about the SA Under-20 team or the Blitzboks. He’s one of those creative players needed in those teams.”