Kovsies will not be taking anything for granted in their crucial clash with a competitive UJ outfit in Pretoria on Sunday.
The Free State side need a big performance against UJ this weekend if they are to book a place in the Final on Monday along with NWU-Pukke, and their coach Jacques du Toit is expecting a serious test.
“We watched their game against Maties last week very carefully, and it will be a tough game for us. I have always said that UJ are big dark horses in this competition – they play good hockey,” he explained.
Another factor that Kovsies will have to contend with is the vastly different travel schedules of the two sides ahead of their showdown in Pretoria.
“UJ obviously don’t have to travel very far to get to Tuks, but we will probably have to go via Potchefstroom which is a total of about seven or eight hours,” he said.
Du Toit said that the experience of playing in front of their home fans last week had been good for his team who are feeling confident heading into the vital last weekend of Varsity Hockey action.
“We always have nice ‘gees’ at home and it was great to have the home crowd right behind us like that,” he said.
The Kovsies coach gave his team two days off after their resounding 5-0 victory over Wits on Monday, and he is hoping that they will be raring to go by Sunday.
Although they are battling with a few injuries and lost star Tanya Brits to the Protea training camp in China this week, Du Toit is confident that he has enough depth at his disposal.
“We have lost a few players, but it is a great opportunity to test out some new girls and see if they want to put their hands up. Luckily we have quite a lot of depth here in Bloemfontein so we are confident that the girls are ready,” he added.
