What excitement! What a contest! What a win!
Well not exactly the type of win I was expecting, but a win none the less. I don’t believe that was the best this team has to offer by any stretch of the imagination, but what I did see was a tremendous amount of balls shown by them to win such a closely fought contest. By winning this game just shows how far this team has come, as not too long ago this team would have given up, rolled over and looked for positives out of another loss, however this is no longer the case and it is such a relief to look at them after the match with a win under the belt. Although they did not produce the type of rugby I wanted, I was impressed at the way they fought back after being down by 3 points, this may not sound much but in such a closely fought derby match, the points were huge. I must commend the Bishops team for throwing everything they had at us which made for a seriously entertaining match! (It must be noted the excitement felt by the spectators bares no resemblance to the stress, frustration and grey hairs experienced by myself!)
It must be said however I thought we should have scored a few tries had passes not gone forward, players not throwing the ball away or by getting tackled out. Had we taken all of our chances the scoreline would have been far greater and would have made for an accurate reading of the teams progress, however we did not take these chances, and for us to become a top team we need to make the most of these when they present themselves. What impresses me is that the team is finally starting to create space and are exploiting it on occasion, however this is one aspect we need to improve on the most as this league is extremely tough, so for us to become the top team these chances must be taken!
So for this team to do the double on Bishops is extremely satisfying, as last time some may have said we won it in somewhat controversial circumstances, but now after we have done it again on their home ground proves we did not win by fluke, we deserved it and that is now unquestionable. Until next year that is.
On the playing front I thought some of our stalwarts were half asleep which is hugely disappointing as these last two matches provides the team an opportunity to show off what they have learnt this year, so lets just hope they are all saving their best performance for the last match of the season… Wynberg.
James is undoubtedly one of the hardest working players I have ever coached, he may not be recognized by spectators, but the team and I know his contribution is massive! His work load is better than 3 players which is just mad, he really sets the benchmark for the type of performance and hard work required to play A team. Keep it up dude!
While at the back, Jono was an interesting move that I have been waiting to try out the entire year. The first time I saw him play I wanted him at fullback, however Jono was adament he wanted to play 10 or 12, so the team had to wait till now to see what he could do… and so he was proved to be a success both on attack and defence, just like I knew he would be. I am really excited to see how he does next week against Wynberg!
Another pleasant surprise was Travis who filled in admirably for Struan who had a sore voice box and thus could not participate in the team song, let alone the actual game. (just joking stroodles) Travis really proved to be an interesting option at hooker, his throwing was not bad at all, while his general play was aggressive at times.
What pleases me immensley is that there are a few players pushing these A team players who may think their place is secure. I just hope more of the B team players start to really try and push for A team inclusion, because there are players who can do it.
So to end off, I am extremely happy the boys pulled off the win, it was a gutsy last few minutes which proves the team has a few wheelbarrows stored for these circumstances whereas before there was none. So for the team I just hope they arrive real hungry for Wynberg because I know what they are capable of, they just need to click on the day, and Saturday is going to be an awesome occasion, I hope for the boys sake it will be in every sense of the word.
So well done boys, you are making me grey, but I wouldn’t change it for the world! This team rocks and it’s been an amazing journey thus far, let’s finish it off in style and have a jol every minute, because there won’t be another like it till March next year! So lets make this week special, and finish this years journey in style!
