News

Western Province kicking themselves

August 11 2009

Lost opportunities cost Western Province a gilt-edged chance of beating tournament leaders Griquas in their Currie Cup match in Kimberley last Friday.

Province staged a brilliant comeback effort in the second half but two massive drop-goals by Griquas full-back Ruan Viljoen eventually was the difference between the teams. WP earned two bonus points though and are in third position on the points table.

Coach Allister Coetzee said his side paid dearly for lost opportunities.

"It was again a case of us applying good pressure and once again we created opportunities but we haven't used our chances the way we should have," he said.

"That was the expensive lesson we learnt, but rather now than later.

"When you apply these lessons in future or when you are confronted by such a situation you would have learnt from these expensive lessons.

"I would view the two points we picked up and the way we played the last 30 minutes as positive. At this stage I want to rather concentrate on the positives than the negatives."

Coetzee said they shot themselves in the foot.

"We earned two points but we shot ourselves in the foot. I want to take nothing away from Griquas. They are a good side and they are in excellent form," he said.

"They are not the log leaders for nothing. We have planned to give them nothing for free. We planned not to make unnecessary mistakes, but unforced errors cost us dearly."

The coach agreed that if they played with the same intensity and urgency that characterised the last 30 minutes, they could have won the game.

"The urgency came when we realised we had to chase the game. We applied some good pressure in the beginning but we couldn't convert the pressure in points," said Coetzee.

"We made a mistake, followed by another one and then another one and we couldn't show any profit from the pressure we applied. That led to the question what do we do next after we had nothing to show for all the pressure we applied.

"The most expensive lesson we have learnt is that if you apply pressure you need to score points. The second one is that you have to adapt to circumstances. Peter Grant is not Willem de Waal and we don't want to turn him into a Willem.

"We still need to play within our systems. We just need to make sure we make those small adjustments for Peter. He plays on his instincts a lot and we need to ensure we see that as a big positive and adapt to it and play according to it.

"It is fantastic to have both of them but now it is up to us to use their respective strong points like we have used Willem's for the past four games. Suddenly in the fifth one we had to play with Peter. We need to learn to adapt to his particular strong points."

The coach said De Waal was going to miss the next two games due to the injury that kept him out of the Griquas game. He was, however, loath to go into too much detail of the nature of the pivot's injury.

"I am a layman as far as injuries go and I will leave it to the team doctor to comment on the nature of Willem's injury. What I can confirm is that he will be out for two more weeks," said Coetzee.

Wing Sereli Naqelevuki is still not available due to a knee injury, but Coetzee said in Gio Aplon they have a player that is in excellent form. According to the coach the other positives to come from the game was the fact that there were no injuries.

"Only (lock) Adriaan Fondse sustained a light ankle injury, but he trained with us on Monday."