Orlando Pirates defender Tapelo Xoki admitted that their mouth-watering MTN8 semifinal first leg against Mamelodi Sundowns at the Orlando Stadium on Saturday would be their biggest test to see how far they will go this season.

The Buccaneers host the competition defending champions and having done pretty well this season in league matches, Xoki wants his side to test their character against the oiled Sundowns machine.

“It will be a good test for us to see how far we can go. We know they are the current defending champions. We know we want to go all the way,” Xoki told the media during the media conference yesterday.

“And to do that, we need to beat everyone in front of us. It is not different if it was another opponent, but we have to face the defending champions and give them the respect they deserve.

“But going to the game knowing that we want to win and go all the way.”

The 27-year-old defender, who will have his work cut out as they will have to stop striker Peter Shalulile from causing problems, added that they would first have to cut the supply to him and not focus solely on him.

“We have to appreciate his qualities. He has done well for his club. He scored goals for his team, but he doesn’t do it alone – other players give him the supply,” he said.

“That’s why we have to make sure that we starve the supply to him as much as we can. So, we have to deal with all the other guys because it is not only him who can hurt you.

“There are so many guys who can hurt you in their team, but the tactic is for the coach to sort it out during the week and we have to make sure we follow what we have to do on the day.

“We just have to focus on that as a collective, not focus solely on him. We played against him for so many games and we know what kind of a player he is.”