'Win it with brains': Jimmy left frustrated with Pumas players
REACTION: A frustrated Jimmy Stonehouse was left rueing missed opportunities after the Pumas’ defeat to the Bulls at the weekend.
The Pumas who started the Currie Cup Round 12 clash in fine fashion looked well on course to claim a win over Gert Smal’s side at Loftus Versfeld.
Stonehouse’s men took a 26-12 lead into the break, however, a litany of errors eventually ensured that they suffered a 26-31 defeat.
It was a disastrous outing for the men from Nelspruit, who were reduced to 14 men after flyhalf Tinus de Beer (spear tackle) was handed a red card in the closing minutes of the first half.
There was also a first-half yellow card to the Pumas’ hat-trick hero Sebastián de Klerk (for repeated infringements) to go with one for fellow wing Tapiwa Mafura (colliding with an opponent in the air) – the latter resulted in the Pumas playing almost the entire last 10 minutes with 13 men.
Mafura’s yellow card certainly caused a big on-field debate as TMO, Quinton Immelman suggested it may have been accidental.
However, referee Marius van der Westhuizen overruled his TMO and sent the wing to the bin.
Speaking to reporters after the match, Stonehouse admitted that Mafura’s yellow card was debatable.
However, he was quick to shut down any talk of refereeing decisions.
“I don’t want to talk about the referee,” Stonehouse said.
“I think whenever you lose you have the tendency to think about the referee.
“The yellow card [to Mafura] is debatable, but there are a lot of things that went wrong, so let’s rather not go into the referee decisions because it is not a good time for me.”
#ICYMI: The Bulls cemented their place at the top of the Currie Cup standings with a bonus-point, 31-26, win over a gutsy Pumas team in Pretoria on Friday. #BULvPUM https://t.co/7tOuyAatw7
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Instead, the frustrated coach did not hold back in his criticism of his team.
“I told the players we did not win, so we did not achieve anything,” Stonehouse said.
“Every week we motivate each other and every week it is the same story. We don’t win.”
He added: “You can go and look at the referee and all the mistakes he made, but also if you get a chance, you have to use it.
“That’s the difference with the Bulls. When they get on your final five-metre line, they score and that’s where we are lacking.
“I can’t say we don’t have the [experienced] guys that have been there for two or three years because we have them. When we coach, we want them to understand what is the consequences of their actions.
“When you kicked the last ball away, what did you wonder was going to happen after that last kick?
“You are 14 on the field and then 13, and you kick the ball away. You have to win it with brains, you got the opportunity to win it, so you have to win it.
“In today’s game, tackling a guy and lifting him that’s not by mistake. When my wing [Mafura] went up for the ball, the wing from the Bulls went up four seconds early because he was following the ball and my guy could only go up when it was his time.
“That’s marginal for me and the [tip] tackle is something else.
“We got three or four opportunities at the end of the game and we didn’t use them.”
“We have to be on our A-game every week.”
The Pumas are fifth on the log with 22 points. The Nelspruit side’s chances of reaching the play-offs are still alive as Sharks are fourth on the log with 24 points and Griquas are third with 26 points.
However, it does not get any easier as the Pumas travel to Bloemfontein to face the Cheetahs on Friday, June 3.
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