Heartbreak for Valke

It was a case of close but no cigar for the Valke U21 side as they lost the final of the Currie Cup Shield 24-16 to the Griffons in an away match on Saturday.

The Valke had a good run in the competition having beaten South Western Districts 60-13 in the semi-final a week before.

Scrumhalf Alwyn van Niekerk scored the Brakpan-based side’s only tries of the match against the Griffons while Jacques Blignaut scored a conversion and three penalties. The loss means that the Valke miss out on being promoted to the Currie Cup premier division.

The Griffons were always going to be a tough side to face but the team which comprised mostly of players from Brakpan and North-West University (NWU), ran them close.

“We always knew that the Griffons were going to be a completely different set of fish (compared to the other teams),” said coach Darlton Botha.

“They have a few Junior Springboks in their team and the management is completely professional as it’s their day job.”

With all the advantages that their opponents had, one still wonders what would have been if the Valke did not have three of their forwards coming off injured in the first half.

“We lost three of our primary forwards in the first half and that made it difficult,” said Botha.

“If we were to win that game (having lost all the injured players) that would be something special. That is no excuse because we could have still won.

“But at the end of the day, you need your guys to be in the game. We had to make early substitutions while they had fresh legs to bring on later.”

Botha was also the coach of the Valke U21 side that lost in the club final against NWU.

“Again, it is to people with purple jerseys,” he quips.

“It really does suck. You know, you start asking yourself questions. But unfortunately, that’s a part of life. You know you can be a winner and just win games but to be a champion you need to be able to lose and bounce back.

“It definitely won’t define me but challenges me to learn and change a few things. At the end of the day it’s never losing, it’s learning.”

While some of the players will be seniors next year there will be a fair amount who will still be eligible to play for the U21 team.

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For Botha, the dream remains. He wants to guide a player from Brakpan to becoming a Springbok player.

The coach will now go back to his club where he will take charge of Brakpan’s first team. The club has already started preparing for the 2023 season.

“That’s a whole new fresh challenge and responsibility,” he said.

The mentor pointed out that while he had about 25 players to work with as Brakpan’s U21 coach, he will have approximately 85 senior players.

“It will mean more competition for places in the team,” he said.