Cape Town - Western Province shot themselves in the foot by losing to Griquas in the Currie Cup and now need a few favours from different teams to make it to the semi-finals.
And Province coach John Dobson admitted that it was probably not a good idea to pump his United Rugby Championship players into the Kimberley match so shortly after the final loss.
The home team beat a URC-laden WP side 38-29 to leapfrog them on the Currie Cup standings and keep their hopes alive of making the semis.
A win would've kept WP in full control to seal a semi-final spot after a young side carried the team to within reach with most of the URC players not available.
They face the Sharks on Saturday and will have to win by a bonus point and hope other results go their way to book a semi-final place.
“Maybe I made a mistake in not sticking to the same youngsters that played last week,” Dobson said after the loss.
“It was tough. We pushed through some URC guys six days later after the hype and emotion of the final, I think that was a mistake.
“But Griquas deserved the win. It's a disappointing way (to bow out), but it won't spoil our season.”
Individually you could see the prowess of guys like centre Ruhan Nel, wing Leolin Zas and forwards Ben-Jason Dixon and Neethling Fouche, but with so many changes, the cohesion of the squad was heavily impacted.
Fullback Clayton Blommetjies didn't click with young flyhalf Jurie Matthee as he does with Manie Libbok. The same with Paul de Wet who started at scrumhalf, with Matthee as his halfback partner.
WP struggled at the breakdown and with their lineouts and it showed when they were in striking distance, especially in the first half, but could not finish their chances.
Dobson said he is not sure if the players failed to switch on mentally.
“I don't know if the guys just could not adjust, there was a real lack of intensity and it's a sign that the team was not at the races. I think we are gone (in terms of qualifying for the semis).
“We needed five points (against Griquas). There's a lot of pride, and we are going into the off-season.
“So, we don't want to go into it with what happened the last two weeks (losses).
“Make no mistakes, there were some tough words in the dressing-room.
“We will get a response from them this (coming) week.”
Nel might be swapped out for Dan du Plessis at centre, but Dobson said he will play more or less the same team against the Sharks as the one that lost against Griquas.