VIDEO: 'Bok backlash' for Bristol
South Africa’s fringe players get a proverbial second bite at the cherry when the ‘A’ team travel to Ashton Gate for the second midweek clash of their European tour.
Struggling Premiership club Bristol Bears is the opposition on Thursday, November 17, as the SA ‘A’ team looks to make amends for last week’s disappointing loss to Munster..
SA ‘A’ coach Mzwandile Stick billed it is “another opportunity” for the players to put down a marker and get them on the list of ‘possibilities’ for inclusion in the Springbok World Cup squad.
Stick, pointing to the ‘lessons learnt’ from the game in Ireland, said playing a ‘territorial game’ is going to be key against the English outfit.
“If you don’t play in the correct areas, you will be punished,” the coach said.
He added that Northern Hemisphere teams are “very good” at capitalising on the opportunities presented to them.
The coach added that they also don’t have the luxury of making many changes, having only 25 players in the squad in the UK – with the bulk of the national team players with the Springboks in France and Italy.
“These two guys are all about giving the guys opportunities,” Stick said.
“No doubt that next week we will be better [as a team], because the players will also understand the conditions.”
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Turning to last week’s loss Stick spoke about Munster being more familiar with the conditions in Cork and a more cohesive team.
He also spoke about having gifted the Irish province ‘soft entries’ into their territory through a litany of errors.
He said his team, SA ‘A’ will be better for the experience, because they will have had the experience of playing as a team and an additional week of training as a group.
Stick also said the ‘theme’ of wasted opportunities is not applicable top his team, as they have not been together as a unit long enough to be judged with the same ‘yardstick’.
“If you look at [Aphelele] Fassi, Suleiman [Hartzenberg], Henco van Wyk and Leolin Zas, it is the first time they had an opportunity [to play together.
“It would be unfair to say they have also fallen into that trap.”
Stick spoke about a line-out just before half-time and another possible try when Hartzenberg put a foot into touch just before crossing the tryline as “game-changing moments”.
“The game of rugby is all about opportunities,” the SA ‘A’-team coach said, adding: “Munster converted their opportunities.
“I hope all of us will learn from it, even the youngsters – they will probably also learn from it.”
Captain Thomas du Toit defended his coach and while he admitted there is some evidence to suggest there is a ‘trend’ in the SA game, he pointed out they only had two days of training ahead of the Munster game.
“To get to a certain level of cohesion in a team does require time,” Du Toit told @rugby365com.
“We don’t want to make excuses, but there is a feel [for the game] in rugby.
“When you look from the sidelines or on television, you don’t understand that feel.
“A team that plays together for a long period of time will start getting that cohesion.
“They will understand each other – the positives and the negatives.
“A team like Munster can capitalise on that, because they know each other – they have been playing in the same system for years.”
He gave credit to Munster for outplaying his SA ‘A’ team, adding that they will take the loss on the chin.
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