FNB Wits bringing killer instinct, but alert of dangers posed by Impi

FNB Wits captain, Latica Nela, says his team will be well poised to deal with the threats FNB UKZN will pose in round three of the FNB Varsity Shield on Friday. The Wite Blues will travel to Durban in search of their second victory after thumping FNB UFH 61-0 in Johannesburg last week.

It was a much-needed victory for Nela and Co, who had a bumpy start to their campaign.

“We wanted that win, and I’m extremely happy about how the boys performed,” he said.

“There are obviously areas we need to work on, but we are on a high, so we’ve got to keep the momentum going.”

Wits were on fire in front of their home crowd, and their forwards laid a marker from the get-go.

They dominated the scrums, lineouts, and scored most of their tries through rolling mauls.

“You’ve got to give credit to the forwards; they led the charge, and we followed suit as the backline. Everything was based on their work; they wanted the ball, the scrums, and the mauls, and they delivered.”

Nela and his side have shifted their focus to UKZN, a team looking to bounce back after going down to FNB Madibaz in round two.

They’ve identified areas to improve ahead of the clash.

“We probably just need to work on the small skill areas like keeping the ball in hand and adding more pressure to teams,” he explained.

“We need to find the killer instinct and put teams away quicker. I think we left about four or five tries on the field against UFH, so we need to be sharper.”

The skipper says preparation for the away game has been tough, and they’ve studied their opponents well.

“It’s been hard this week. We know it’s very humid over there, but we also come from an altitude that helps.

“We’d like to see if they can keep up with us for 80 minutes. We want to keep a high tempo and just play flowing rugby. We’ve noticed they like playing loose rugby and keeping the ball in hand. They also have a firing defence, so we will need to be up for that challenge.”

The clash at Howard College Stadium will kick off at 19:00.

By: Avuyile Sawula