Root: Illness not an excuse for defeat
Johannesburg: Captain Joe Root said England will not use the illness that affected much of their squad as an excuse for the first-Test defeat in South Africa.
Ten players were hit in the build-up to or during the match in Centurion, which England lost by 107 runs.
“There has been a huge amount thrown at the group, on and off the field,” Root told BBC Sport.
“It would be wrong to hide behind that, but it has disrupted preparations for a lot of the guys.”
As well as the illness, which also affected four members of the backroom staff, allrounder Ben Stokes’ father was admitted to hospital three days before the Test began. Stokes missed training on 24 December to be with his father Ged, who has since left intensive care.
“We showed a huge amount of character throughout the whole week,” said Root. “Noone has moaned about it.”
Coach Chris Silverwood, who is now without a win in three Tests since taking charge, said the illness left England with an “unpredictable” build-up.
“I’ve never been involved in a build-up like this, to have a morning of a game where you’re getting told that players are falling over,” he said.
“Guys that were coming back from being poorly were training while others were on the park, to keep them separate.
“When Jos Buttler was poorly yesterday, he was in a different room. We’ve had hand sanitisers. You name it, it’s all happening.” On the field, England paid the price for failing to capitalise on two strong positions. After winning the toss and choosing to field, the tourists had South Africa 111-5, only to let them reach 284.
In response, England collapsed from 142-3 to 181 all out.
It meant that a determined batting effort in their second innings, when they battled hard to 268, left them well short of the target of 376.
“I said at the time the toss was a 50-50 call,” said Root. “You get a side 111-5, you think you’ve made the right call. It’s about finishing the innings off and we didn’t manage to do that.
“At 111-5 in the first innings, you’re looking at bowling them out for 180. Unfortunately they got away from us there.
“Then we got into a reasonable position with the bat, lost a couple of wickets and were 100 runs short of where we should have been. Those two scenarios have cost us this Test match.”
Silverwood confirmed that off-spinner
Dom Bess and pace bowler Craig Overton, who were added to the squad as cover, will remain in South Africa for the second Test in Cape Town, which begins on Friday. “Everything has been thrown at this group and we have worked hard to deal with that,” said Root.
“Maybe that will stand us in good stead for the next game. Hopefully the illness is through camp and we can prepare well.”
Timani received a three-year deal to join Montpellier in 2013 and made the switch to the French club following the end of year tour with the Wallabies. He joined ASM Clermont at the conclusion of that contract and has been with them since.
Clermont went on to win the match 39-22 to stay within touching distance of the top four after fourth-placed Toulouse and thirdplaced Toulon shared a draw.
Former All Black Isaia Toeava set up two tries on three line breaks while his All Black midfield partner George Moala also bagged a try.
ASM Clermont sits in fifth place on 28 competition points equal with Racing 92 and La Rochelle.
Rugby Pass trophies and titles themselves.
“People have to be careful thinking that Exeter’s only motivation is Saracens because it’s not. Saracens are just one step of the journey.”
But Baxter then continued on BBC Radio 5 Live: “There are supporters of rugby clubs who have watched coaches getting sacked and players leave and all different kinds of things, and part of that has been because of Saracens cheating. You can’t run away from it.
“Sometimes the people who have pointed out that Saracens have cheated almost get pointed out to be the bad guys.
“Well, the people who have made comment on it aren’t the cheats. And that is the bit that some rugby supporters have felt more frustrated about.”
Planet Rugby