Luke Burger sees green shoots of exciting centre partnership with Damian Markus at WP
Rugby
Boldwin Hansen of the Lions is tackled by Luke Burger of Western Province during a 2023 Currie Cup match between the sides at Athlone Stadium in Cape Town. Burger could agains partner Damian Markus in midfield against the Lions in Saturday's Currie Cup match.
Image: Shaun Roy/BackpagePix
Western province midfielder Luke Burger feels like his centre partnership with rising star Damian Markus has the potential to blossom into something special during the Currie Cup.
“We have a really good relationship. Obviously there’s room to improve, feeling comfortable with each other and knowing each other’s strengths, how to benefit from it and how we can just form the best connection,” Burger said during a Province media conference yesterday.
“I think we’re felling quite comfortable and feeling quite strong going forward.”
Asked what each player brought to the partnership, Burger said: “It was our first game together in pre-season so there’s still little things we’re working on, just to get that combination all the better. But I think we match up really well.
“He’s really good with ball in hand. He knows how to draw defenders in, which gives me the opportunity to run good lines off him, and vice versa. I think the more time we spend together in this centre partnership, it can only really get better from there.”
Province didn’t enjoy the greatest start to the competition, going down 48-23 to the rampant Bulls at home on Saturday.
They are gearing up for an equally testing clash against the Lions at Ellis Park on Saturday (3pm kickoff). The home side will be buoyed by their comfortable 46-5 win over the Sharks.
Burger expects an exciting game of running rugby, based on the attacking style of both teams. Province Backline coach Dewaldt Duvenage knows, however, that the platform will have to be created by a strong forwards performance. The Bulls dominated the forward exchanges on Saturday, which starved the Province backs of attacking opportunities.
“In the first half we only had three opportunities with the ball in hand. The main thing was our lack of discipline and our set piece wasn’t going as we wanted. We addressed the issue, it’s a big work-on for us, and we’re looking forward to the Lions. We made good plans,” he said.
“It’s a good thing in the sense that everything was under the microscope in the beginning of the first game so we could take the learnings.”
Should the Province set piece fail to fire again, the Lions could have a field day on the Highveld.