Defeat a bitter pill to swallow
SKIPPER: CUP WOULD HAVE BEEN AN IDEAL PARTING GIFT
Now Ackermann departs for England as the tears flow.
Lions captain Jaco Kriel admitted he found it extremely tough to deal with the disappointment of losing the Super Rugby final to the Crusaders at Ellis Park last weekend.
Kriel who will join up with the rest of the 34-man Springbok squad for the Rugby Championship in Port Elizabeth today, said the trophy would have been the ideal parting gift for departing coach Johan Ackermann.
“My emotions were all over the place after the game,” said Kriel.
“The coach has been like a father to me, as a mentor and one of the greatest I have come across in my rugby career.”
Kriel, along with a host of other Lions Super Rugby players won’t be available for the Currie Cup, and in many ways it means the end of an era and they had to say their goodbyes before Ackermann leaves for Gloucester tomorrow.
“He has taught me so much, so we are not going to be sad. We are going to celebrate him as a person even though we couldn’t get the trophy for him,” he said.
“I believe in his time as coach we have managed to inspire people and we are really going to miss him.”
Kriel said the red card to flanker Kwagga Smith, who was subsequently suspended for four weeks, was tough on the whole team but said fortunately it arrived before the break, even though it left them with too much to do.
“I didn’t say a lot to the players but I said everybody will just have work a little bit harder,” he said.
“In the second half we wanted to play our expansive game which was difficult without Kwagga because we love our forwards in the outside channels.
“But the boys stuck to it and they really tried hard and I’m really proud of them for doing that.”