Rudy's Cape Town frustration
A frustrating day at the office. This, in short, is how NWU-Pukke coach Rudy Joubert felt after Monday’s 11-18 Varsity Cup loss to the Ikey Tigers in Cape Town.
Joubert had to witness a rather appalling performance by his ‘boytjies’, as they went down to a fired-up Cape Town team by seven points in a Round Two, FNB Varsity Cup match presented by Steinhoff International fixture.
According to Joubert, it was one of the worst performances by an FNB Pukke outfit, in his tenure as coach, having just over 12 months ago guided his men to last year’s final where they narrowly lost out to the Maties.
“We made so many unforced mistakes, especially under pressure,” he told varsitycup.co.za.
“We made too many handling errors and our concentration let us down at the moment critique. I mean there were three opportunities where we could have scored in the first half, but we [just] didn’t.”
Joubert agreed that his team struggled to create enough momentum on the day, with their support runners attacking from too deep, and he added: “Yes, they should have played closer to one another, but it’s something we’ve addressed.
“We also paid attention (this week) to our defence, as I believe we gave UCT too much space which enabled them to cross the advantage line at will.”
The Pukke mentor would also like to see his team improve their set-piece – “if they want to be in the competition at the end” – but he was happy enough with their driving maul, which – of course – led to their only try of the game. Territory, however, was their big headache and, as we all know, you need territory in order to get your rolling maul to be a factor.
But their loss to the Ikeys aside, Joubert’s charges have a chance to their 2010 Varsity Cup campaign back on track against FNB Shimlas next Monday – a match that is shaping up as the game of Week Three.
“They’re [Shimlas] doing well so far [this season], so it won’t be easy,” he said. “But we’re looking forward to the challenge.”
The Pukke-Shimlas clash, in Potchefstroom, will kick-off at 6.30pm and will be televised live on SuperSport One.
* Pukke have beaten Shimlas in two previous Varsity Cup encounters (winning 35-24 in 2008 and 27-15 in 2009) up till now, whilst the Men from Bloemfontein have not won an encounter between these two teams in Potchefstroom since 1997.
Of course, Pukke and Shimlas play an annual Intervarsity match against each other – an encounter the Free Staters have not won since 2004.
By Ruan Bruwer
