GROOT GAT WAG

BROK Harris has warned Western Province not to play into the hands of a gevaarlike Griquas outfit if they want to win their first game in this year’s Currie Cup Premier Division.

In a short turnaround week after their 40-19 loss to the Lions at Ellis Park, Province hit the road on Thursday to face a confident Griquas team in Kimberley on Friday.

Griquas got their first Currie Cup win on Sunday after beating WP’s cross-town neighbours Boland Cavaliers 48-39 at Griqua Park.

And Harris, who has turned to full-time coaching since retiring as a player earlier this year, knows a thing or two about falling down a hole when facing the Kwaste up in Kimberley.

The former prop said of how Kaapse spanne in the past feared facing Griquas in Kimberley: “I [originally] used to be from Potchefstroom and I know all the Capetonians say it’s the [Griquas’] hard field, but for me the field there was never a factor.

“I think you sometimes try and overplay, try and play their game plan, and then that physicality, you know it’s going to be a hard, fast game.

“They have a good set-piece and as they always say, you win a game with the forwards and that is probably the key thing for them, like we saw on Sunday [against Boland].

“They really came back in that second half with a strong set-piece, and I think that is probably where they are strong. And that is where we got it wrong the last couple of years.”

It is, however, not just the Kwaste’s agttal that Harris reckons should be watched out for, with wings Dylan Maart and Gurshwin Wher, and fullback Conor Mahoney setting the Currie Cup alight with their counter-attacking ability.

Harris said of WP working on a plan to stop the explosive threesome: “They were incredible [against Boland]. So we will respect them. We have got a couple of plans and we are probably just going to try and focus on executing our stuff rather than too much on what they are going to bring to the party.”