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After slipping to their sixth defeat in eight games in this year’s Vodacom Super Rugby season, coach Naka Drotske has admitted that his team’s slim outside chances of reaching the playoffs is over and now only pride remains for the team to play for.
He said from the way their defensive system creaked in losing 52-31 to the Crusaders on Saturday it is clear that a lot of the promise they showed in 2013 has evaporated.
Conversely, the table topping Cell C Sharks stayed at the summit with an assured 25-12 win over the Lions at Ellis Park.
Back on Friday, the Bulls grabbed a consolation bonus point with their 27-20 loss to the Highlanders in Dunedin.
In the Vodacom Cup: The South Western District Eagles improved to third position on the South Section log with an assured 40 points to 26 win over the bottom placed Border Bulldogs in East London.
In a battle of the also-rans, the 5th placed EP Kings edged the Boland Cavaliers 28-21 at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.
There's only one round of group fixtures remaining with the playoffs out of reach for the Kings who play the table-topping Sharks XV in a fortnight in Durban.
The SWD Eagles final group match will decide second-place and a home semi-final when they host Western Province in George.
And certainly a noteworthy result for Grey High School in Stellenbosch at the weekend. They roared back from 26-nil down with 19 minutes remaining to stun mighty Paul Roos 27-26 courtesy of four late tries.
Replacement flyhalf Rynhardt Fortuin then succeeded with a last minute penalty to send the PE schoolboys into raptures.
