UWC miss out on 'big test'
The University of the Western Cape's preparations for the all-new Varsity Shield have been disrupted by the cancellation of their warm-up game against FNB UCT, which was due to have taken place this Friday.
Despite this blow to their fixture list, UWC head coach Deon Davids was satisfied with his team's victory against Boland club side, Hamlets, last weekend.
He told varsitycup.co.za: "We played against Hamlets last Friday and managed to win. There were a couple of mistakes, which you would expect in your first game (back), but we can definitely build on that performance.
"I still think that we are on track in terms of where we want to go," he added.
However, that with Hamlets could turn out to be their only warm-up game before the competition starts. And, with UWC facing three fixtures in the first week of the Varsity Shield, the last thing Davids will want is an underdone squad.
The UWC boss explained: "We unfortunately had to cancel our warm-up game against UCT. I didn't foresee this situation that we are in now and we must (now) adapt according to this.
"It's going to be tough, but we would rather be positive than focus on the negatives. We are in this situation now so we have just got to manage it," he added.
Davids has been trying to organise at least some time with last year's Varsity Cup runners-up before the tournament starts.
"We are still looking to maybe practice against them on Saturday and maybe add some contact sessions next week to that, but we haven't confirmed that yet," said the former Boland coach.
The UWC mentor is trying his best to make sure his charges will be ready for the new competition when it starts on Monday, January 31 and will be exploring his options in terms of potential warm-up fixtures.
"We are just training at this point in time but we do have other options in terms of playing against the Western Province Amateur team," said Davids.
"So those are all avenues that we can explore. We will adapt our sessions according to the situation we find ourselves in."
By Michael de Vries
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