Positive Developments – Featured Durban Blog

Head coach Robert du Preez paid tribute to a courageous team effort and improvement from the previous encounter, in his team’s 27-22 victory over a very determined Brumbies team on Saturday.

There is a spring in the step and lots of smiles around Growthpoint KINGS PARK following their successful outing in a place where wins are rare.

“There was a big improvement on the Reds match,” du Preez said on his return to Durban. “Collectively, as a team, we performed a lot better.

“A couple of things we wanted to concentrate on was our reaction to the breakdown situations which was much better this week, our exits which were also an improvement, and we got the bulk of possession, which helped.”
Against the Reds, ball possession stats showed the home team had the lions share, but this turned around against the Brumbies.

“When we kept ball in hand and started to put the phases together, it showed what this team is capable of and I’m very pleased with that,” he said. “At one stage, we put 19 phases together.”
This was a result of composure and continuity on attack, where they forced the home team to spend more time defending that they would have liked.

“The patience we showed in the attacking zone was much better; we weren’t trying to offload 50-50 passes, although we were a bit unlucky not to get some points early on. There was an improvement on our discipline, although 11 penalties is still a lot and five of those could have actually been avoided.

“The possession held and the points scored in the last eight minutes of the first half gave the players a lot of confidence. The talk in the change-room at half-time was really positive and we came out and really played well in the first ten minutes of the second half.”

Du Preez explained that during the last few minutes of the game, it was the calming, but determined focus of the captain that took his team to victory. “Patrick said to the guys: ‘You have to believe that we are going to pull this one through.’ This showed that the team believed in themselves, that they could do it. They played right to the end and that was very pleasing.”

The Cell C Sharks will spend this week preparing to host a very dangerous Waratahs team who will be hurting after their loss to the Lions this past weekend.

“This victory against the Brumbies will give the guys a lot of confidence. Obviously the match against the Waratahs this Saturday is going to be a very tough one, but I’m sure the boys will be up for it, especially as we are playing at home in front of our home crowd.”

The local club season once again kicked off with the Ronnie van Rooyen Memorial club day hosted by Harlequins on the Bluff in honour of a great club man the Mightiest Quin of them all the late Oom Ronnie as he was affectionately known.

11 clubs converged on the Bluff club to prepare for what looks more and more like a positively competitive a season ahead and whilst one should never judge or even contemplate predicting the way the season will pan out but there have been some early indications of good things to come for the club game this year.

The only criticism one might have are the incredibly strict rules on the high tackles laid down by the IRB and in the early preseason friendlies it has shown that it could well create a few headaches for the club players especially with local referees blowing harshly, some more than others, and dishing out yellow cards.

This perhaps hasn’t been a bad thing as hopefully it will encourage a bit more discipline into the local game, although there were a few nasty incident’s on the Bluff last Saturday, which has to be stamped out immediately before the leagues kick off on 25 March and that includes abuse from the side lines. It is all so uncalled for especially in a friendly game where sides are looking at weighing up their options and looking at combinations for the season ahead. Its certainly not needed in the club game or indeed the game as a whole.

The day kicked off with a heart warming victory for the local development side Kwantu Spears who beat a visiting Centurion combination from Pretoria 26-15, which was a wonderful start of the season for the township side. Bidvest Insurance Crusaders Under 20 ‘A’ beat their Fidelity Security Jaguars counterparts 36-19 and are looking a lot more competitive for the season ahead.

A few eyebrows were raised when Your Communications College Rovers Under 20 ‘A’ disposed of SA Home Loans Durban Collegians Under 20 ‘A’ 36-14. Collegians did however have their Under ‘B’ side come away with a win when they beat Varsity College 22-15.

In the senior games Durban Collegians beat Crusaders 40-21 in what can be best described as a fight rather than a game. Whilst there was some good rugby played there were far too many off the ball incidents to have made it a spectacle which was such a pity. When asked who started it all one can only say both sides were to blame and the referee should have been a lot stricter.

For the rest First Division sides hosts Harlequins and Hillcrest both beat sides for the Premier Division with Quins accounting for a make shift FNB UKZN Impi combination as their top players are involved in the Varsity Shield and Hillcrest destroyed Jaguars 53-12, which for the side from Sydenham will be very worrying. Hillcrest second stringers beat a Rovers combined Thirds and Under 20 side 41-12 and look to be the side to watch in First Division, while Harlequins seconds narrowly lost to Queensburgh 12-7.

The draw for the Flya Tournament which will be hosted by Crusaders will take place this evening (Wednesday) at the club with round one scheduled for Friday evening at the Durban North club on Friday evening.

By Jos Robson