Blitzboks caught out by a ‘system’ failure
THE CAPE TOWN leg of the World Sevens Series has evaded the Springbok Sevens team yet again, but coach Neil Powell says he’s happy his team claimed the bronze medal in front of their home crowd.
It was New Zealand who claimed the Cape Town rewards for the first time, and it also meant they scooped their first tournament win since the Vancouver leg of the Series last year.
The Blitzboks were on point on Day One – comfortably topping Pool A after winning all three of their matches – but Day Two wasn’t an easy one for the Blitzboks.
First, they had a quarter-final meeting with Fiji, and the hosts managed to pull off the comeback of the tournament after being 14-0 and a man down in the opening two minutes to delivering a more composed second-half outing to down the Islanders 31-26.
Then came their semi-final booking with the Kiwis – one that magnified the errors the Springboks Sevens were guilty of yesterday.
It was the South African’s impatience with ball in hand and a few defensive lapses that ultimately proved costly.
After falling to New Zealand, the Blitzboks pipped Canada 19-12 in the contest for the third spot, and following the fixture, Powell said that the players he would have wanted his charges to “look after the system” better.
“It’s never about the results for us, it’s about how the guys perform out there, the effort that they put in and how they implement the processes.”
“Even in that Fiji game there were signs that the guys…I wouldn’t say that the guys didn’t put in effort, but they just weren’t looking after the system like we want them to.”
“We often get ourselves into that situation where we push the intensity but we don’t control or respect the ball enough. We give away easy possession, and quality teams or quality players are going to punish you. It’s something we need to look at – maybe we need to take a step down on our intensity and step up on our control. The only way we can do it is by having the ball.”
“We obviously pride ourselves on our defence, and especially if they cut our lines and get through the middle then we’re obviously disappointed. It’s all about the system and everybody needs to do their roles to implement the system. If they do it well then the opposition shouldn’t come through the middle, if they want to cut the line or beat the defensive system then they have to go around. And that one of the things I meant when I said we didn’t look after our system well enough.” ALSO INSIDE Cobras lose to Warriors, P18 Benni at his wits end, P19 Sharma in command, P18 EVERTON captain Wayne Rooney equalised from the penalty spot in a Merseyside derby that ended 1-1 at Anfield yesterday and left Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp fuming.
With the snow swirling, Rooney, stepped up in the 77th-minute and sent the ball straight down the middle. Mohamed Salah earlier fired Liverpool ahead with a 42nd-minute stunner.
While Salah’s goal was a breathtaking effort, the penalty left Klopp far from speechless with the German taking issue with the referee’s decision after Dejan Lovren was adjudged to have pushed Dominic Calvert-Lewin in the back. Lovren was still protesting with officials after the final whistle, while Klopp argued with a Sky Sports television interviewer.
Asked what he had said to the referee, Klopp replied: “That I don’t understand what he’s doing. That’s what I said. I didn’t use one swearing word.”
The German, who defended his decision to take off Salah with 22 minutes remaining, refused to accept it had been a penalty and said his side had been the only ones trying to win.
“The other team was not even in our box, I don’t know if they had a shot on target apart from the penalty. To give them an open door like this, in my understanding, that’s not okay,” he added.
Klopp said Lovren had not even made a challenge.
“Calvert-Lewin makes a step... the hand is like this on the back, you saw it,” continued the manager. “If you think it is a penalty do it, say it.”
When told that it looked a soft one, Klopp laughed out loud. “So, then we can stop the interview because I only want to talk to people that have a little bit of understanding of football.”
He later apologised, adding: “There are greater catastrophes on this planet than getting a point after a game like this, but it feels not too good.” – Reuters