Horie: Sunwolves 'overwhelmed' by Newlands
Speaking after his team's 19-46 hammering at the hands of a clinical Stormers team at Newlands last Friday, Horie said it is possible that the players were "a little bit overwhelmed" by the atmosphere.
"I am used to play under these circumstances [on the Super Rugby stage]," he said of his two season's with the Melbourne-based Rebels – before taking up the Sunwolves captaincy during their debut season on the SANZAAR stage.
"For the other players it would have been a good experience ," he said.
Both Horie and Sunwolves coach Mark Hammett spoke of the growth the team has shown, despite still looking for their first win in six outings – which produced three losing bonus points for finishing within seven points of the opposition.
The 27-point defeat was the last-placed Japanese team's biggest of the season, with only the 9-35 loss to the Rebels in Round Three coming close.
Their bonus points came from narrow losses to the Cheetahs (31-32), Bulls (27-30) and Southern Kings (28-33).
Horie said a "lack of experience" and the fact that some players were "overwhelmed by the atmosphere" contributed to the margin of their defeat.
"With a lot of the new players in the squad it took time to get the team going," he said of a side the had a distinct fringe-players flavour and showed many changes from that which played in the opening five weeks.
"It is not the end of the season for us." Horie said, adding: "We will now work towards the next game."
The coach, Hammett, said the changes were needed to give some other players a chance to put their hands up.
"It was good to give [captain] Shota [Horie] half a game, rather than the full 80 minutes he has been playing every weekend," Hammett said, adding that there were positives and negatives to come out of the game.
"We are further along in terms of team growth than we thought we would be this stage," he said.
"A lot better teams than us have had 50-pointers and more put on them.
"It is always disappointing to lose, but there is lots of our game to be admired."
He also spoke of his team's improved attacking play.
"Fleckie [Stormers coach Robbie Fleck] said that was the most tackles they have missed all year," Hammett said.
"Unfortunately some of our transition from attack to defence wasn't that good and Stormers scored some very good tries."
He dismissed the notion that the big margin of defeat will have a negative impact on the team.
"Some of our attack was probably the best we've played and the Stormers are a very good side.
"I have come out of Cape Town with the Crusaders, both as player and coach, with pretty much a similar score.
"We are certainly not down at all, he said, adding: "I am very happy with where we are at – we will continue to work on our game."
By Jan de Koning
@King365ed
@rugby365com
