CELL C SHARKS TOUR SQUAD TO ARGENTINA:
Monday, 24th April 2017: Cell C Sharks Head Coach Robert du Preez has named a 25-man touring squad, who will depart for Argentina tomorrow, ahead of their return fixture against the Jaguares in Buenos Aires.
“A strong travelling squad has been announced by du Preez, despite not having the luxury of selecting centre Andre Esterhuizen, due to suspension, and an injured Kobus van Wyk, who was a very late withdrawal from this past Saturday’s match against the Rebels.
The touring squad are:
|
FORWARDS |
BACKS |
|
Chiliboy Ralepelle |
Benhard Janse van Rensburg |
|
Coenie Oosthuizen |
Cobus Reinach |
|
Daniel du Preez |
Curwin Bosch |
|
Etienne Oosthuizen |
Jeremy Ward |
|
Franco Marais |
Johan Deysel |
|
Jean-Luc du Preez |
Lukhanyo Am |
|
John-Hubert Meyer |
Lwazi Mvovo |
|
Lourens Adriaanse |
Michael Claassens |
|
Philip van der Walt |
Odwa Ndungane |
|
Ruan Botha |
Rhyno Smith |
|
Stephan Lewies |
Sbu Nkosi |
|
Tendai Mtawarira |
|
|
Tera Mtembu |
|
|
Thomas du Toit |
For a man who has played for this province with distinction and who has such high respect for our jersey, du Preez’s unhappiness with our team performance was evident.
“Our performance was sub-standard and absolutely unacceptable. We owe everyone associated with our team a more credible showing against the Jaguares. We will work hard this week on the areas that let us down, with discipline and execution being key.”
Players that were not considered for selection include:
Garth April, Inny Radebe, Keegan Daniel, Kobus van Wyk, Pat Lambie
The Cell C Sharks team to play the Jaguares will be announced on Thursday at 12h00.
The post CELL C SHARKS TOUR SQUAD TO ARGENTINA appeared first on Sharks Rugby.
Head coach of the Cell C Sharks Robert du Preez did not mince his words nor pull any punches when he suggested that his team’s nine-all Vodacom Super Rugby draw with the Melbourne Rebels was a big disappointment.
Following their bye the previous week, the loss in continuity and momentum clearly had an effect on the game.
Talking afterwards about our team’s performance, du Preez was open about his thoughts.
“That was terrible, very disappointing,” he said.
“We had all the opportunities in the world to win the game, even though we lost a man early, but we just messed up one opportunity after another.”
There are certain mitigating circumstances worth considering. Two of them have already been mentioned – the bye week as well as playing for three quarters of the match with 14 men – but a third is the fact that this team has many young and inexperienced players who are not yet battled hardened for the demands of Super Rugby, particularly when the chips are down.
“There was a lack of composure shown and the red card had a lot to do with that, but we do have a lot of experienced rugby players in our team as well and they should have shown leadership.”
Although the penalty count favoured us by a large margin, du Preez lamented the fact that we were unable to capitalise on the advantage as well as the significance of the few penalties we conceded.
“We scored a try which was then disallowed because of bad discipline. We only gave away six penalties, but they were really costly. They gave away 18. It’s something that we pride ourselves on, but it wasn’t the amount, but the outcome and they cost us dearly. It was a pity we didn’t have all 15 players on the field, it would have been a different game.”
There might be questions raised over the decision to kick penalties to touch and try to maul the ball over the tryline, instead of kicking for points, but he did defend that plan. It should have worked and if it had, the outcome of the match would have been different.
“We tried to build some type of momentum in the last 15 minutes but couldn’t score. And we entered their 22 close to 20 times during the match, we should definitely have converted a lot more opportunities.”
Du Preez also felt that the bye shouldn’t have had such an effect. “We had a good week when we came back from the break, the guys were re-energised and I thought everything would work out, it didn’t.
“It’s just not good enough. If you represent your province, a proud province like the Sharks, this performance must rate as one of the worst that I’ve ever seen.
This week is a new week though and the Cell C Sharks will know that a much more improved performance will be required against the Jaguares in Buenos Aires.
The post Honest Appraisal appeared first on Sharks Rugby.
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