Maidza reads his troops riot act
Coach adamant Madibaz need to pull up their socks
IMPROVED control of their setpieces and better game management are vital if the Madibaz want to bounce back from their narrow Varsity Cup defeat against the Ikey Tigers.
That is the view of disappointed Madibaz coach David Maidza, who is looking for his team to step up when they play the Central University of Technology (CUT) in Bloemfontein on Monday.
The Madibaz were leading 17-11 early in the second half, before they fell away to eventually go down 27-17 to the Tigers.
It was the Madibaz first home game in almost two years after an upgrade to their stadium.
“We did not control the game at all and I felt that we played straight into their hands,” said Maidza.
“The Madibaz cannot allow so many breakdown opportunities to go the way of their opponents. Ikeys also put us under pressure at the scrums and we crumbled.
“We knew we would be up against it after we lost our tighthead, Dylan Barendse. But we cannot use that as an excuse.
“The team did not control our setpieces and that is the bottom line. We can also look at a lot of things like scrums, lineouts and breakdowns.
“On top of that we were not playing in the right areas. We could have won the match, if we had taken our penalty points and gone for poles.
“So there are a couple of factors like not playing in the right zones early on. At this level, you have to handle and manage the game better than we did.”
Maidza said he had called the power play because time was running out for his team.
However, despite being two men down, the Ikeys scored a seven-pointer via Pieter Schoonraad to nullify any advantage the Madibaz enjoyed.
“It was the 55th minute and you have to call it before the 60th minute, otherwise you lose it. We were under pressure and we did not control the scrum.
“Maybe I called it in the wrong zone. These are the things you look back on in hindsight and think it was the wrong call at the time.”
Maidza is calling for more focus ahead of Monday’s game against CUT.
“I wish we had got a better result. We will definitely improve and this is a side I am very confident about.
“We have talked for far too long, and we have not delivered in a long time. So it is time we kept our mouths shut and do the work what we are supposed to do.
“There are boys here who are putting their hands up for Currie Cup, provincial and Pro14 status. They must just keep on working.
“I do not want any fingers pointed around in the squad, and all the fingers point at me. These are young men who are still learning the game.
“It is important that we do not hammer it out and get the confidence down.
“We will get better and will build on the positives for next week. The Madibaz are at a stage where it was our first game and we cannot be distraught about one performance when we were not at our best.
“Hopefully we can come back and fix it up. We will work on where the errors happened and how they happened,” the coach said.