Coach John Dobson is at a loss to explain Western Province’s poor handling skills that led to a 22-12 defeat against the Pumas in Nelspruit.

The Pumas’ first win against Province in eight years came after an error-ridden match that produced a staggering 67 combined handling errors, of which 34 were made by WP, according to the AllOutRugby stats.

Speaking at a press conference in Cape Town, Dobson lamented his team’s high handling error-rate and reiterated that there is nothing wrong with their skill levels.

‘I have never seen anything like it,’ said Dobson. ‘There was a little bit of dew around. I just got to put it as a freakish event because for guys with this skill level, to make so many handling errors is just stratospheric.

‘I am not too panicky about it because I know these guys’ skill level, we see it every week. I’ve got to say that was an aberration and there are other areas of the performance that worried us that we need to work on. A bit more clarity on our kicking game and the breakdown wasn’t very good.’

Province are currently fourth in the Currie Cup standings but could still finish second.

‘It was a really devastating result for us on Friday night. But if we win all four of our remaining matches, we’ll probably get a home semi. If we don’t win all four, we might even miss out [on the semis], so that’s how important it is for us.’

Photo: Carl Fourie/Gallo Images