'Mission accomplished' says Roux
It was ‘mission accomplished’ for FNB Maties head coach Chean Roux – despite his team going down 26-59 to a Western Province Invitation XV at Newlands on Saturday.
Down 0-38 at half-time, the back-to-back Varsity Cup champions ‘won’ the second half 26-21 as hooker Gareth Light, scrumhalves (and namesakes) Johan Herbst and Johan Lyker and prop Buhle ‘Bush’ Mxunuywa all crossed for tries.
Roux – as he told varsitycup.co.za – before the game – used a full 32-man squad (which excluded injured captain Cameron Peverett) and he made numerous changes throughout the match.
Ironically, one of the WP standouts was hard-running Maties winger JJ Engelbrecht – having also done very well against UCT in Riebeek West last week – whilst replacement back Stokkies Hanekom (another Matie) scored two tries for Western Province.
“The score wasn’t an issue for me at all,” Roux told this website.
“I mixed and matched things a bit [selection-wise] and I always knew the second half would be better (for us).
“But, like I said, it wasn’t about the score for me… We haven’t done anything on attack or defence at training (yet), so I was only interested in how our first phases would go.
“(So) from that point of view I was happy; our scrums and lineouts went well, so, yes, overall I’m pretty pleased,” he added. “We’re not exactly where I want us to be, but as far as I’m concerned it was mission accomplished in the end.”
With the 2010 FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International just eight days away now (Maties play their first match against NMMU on February 1), Roux’s next job is to trim down his current squad before selecting his matchday 23 for Stellenbosch’s opener.
“I’ve already spoken to [Stormers boss] Rassie (Erasmus), so I know where I stand in terms of his selection needs and, thereby, mine,” explained the Maties head coach.
“Tomorrow I’ll trim my squad down to 26 and we’ll take things from there before our first game against NMMU.”
The scorers:
For WP XV:
Tries: Moller, Elstadt, Engelbrecht, P Louw, Juries, Penalty, S Hanekom 2
Cons: Hoffman 6, Cronjé 2
Pen: Hoffman
For the Maties:
Tries: Light, Herbst, Lyker, Mxunuywa
Cons: Groepes 3
The teams:
WP Invitation XV: 15 Jurgen Visser, 14 Fabian Juries, 13 Frikkie Welsh (captain), 12 Paul Bosch, 11 JJ Engelbrecht, 10 Conrad Hoffman, 9 Bolla Conradie, 8 Yaya Hartzenberg, 7 Pieter Louw (vice-captain), 6 Conraad Britz, 5 Martin Muller, 4 Rynhardt Elstadt, 3 Eusebio Guinazu, 2 Callie Visagie, 1 JD Möller.
Replacements – from: 16 Sydney Tobias, 17 Hein van de Merwe, 18 Stephan Greeff, 19 Dustin Jinka, 20 Hilton Lobberts, 21 Liam Slatem, 22 Jody Birch, 23 Stokkies Hanekom, 24 Tim Whitehead, 25 Denzil Riddles.
Maties (squad):
Forwards: Steven de Villiers, André Lotz, JP Mostert, Josh Strauss, Johndré Strauss, Sam Mabombo, Reniel Hugo, Marinus Pretorius, Hugo Kloppers, Andrew Prior, Lourens Adriaanse, Buhle Mxunuywa, Matthew Dobson, Gareth Light, Andréw Crausaz, Mike de Neuilly-Rice, Johan Roets.
Backs: Philip Potgieter, Jonathan Francke, Wilhelm Loock, Thythan Adams, Danie Poolman, Charl Weideman, Stefan van der Merwe, Dabeon Draghoender, Jason Pohleman, Lucian Cloete, André Kemp, Hayden Groepes, Clayton Stewart, Johan Laker, Gideon Strydom, Johan Herbst.
Referee: Matt Kemp
