Wounded Elephants need to pick themselves up
Battered and bruised after a 61-0 drubbing at the hands of the Pumas, EP must dust themselves down before they face the SWD Eagles on Saturday, Elephants manager Rafiek Hermans said.
It was one-way traffic at the Mbombela Stadium when the Pumas ripped EP’s defence apart in a one-sided secondround SA Cup clash on Friday.
If there was a tiny shred of consolation for EP, they did not disintegrate totally in the second half after they found themselves 42-0 behind at the break.
It was a mismatch from start to finish as EP struggled to keep the Currie Cup Premier Division outfit at bay on a night the men in red and black hoops will want to forget in a hurry.
A rampant Pumas opened the scoring after four minutes when Jaco Labuschagne crashed over the EP try-line after a powerful rolling maul.
It was the first of nine tries for the Pumas, who showed
they are among the early favourites to lift the SA Cup.
Hermans put on a brave face, saying the Elephants had soldiered on in the second half after conceding six first-half tries.
“It was not a great first half, but we kept at it in the second half,” he said.
“EP would have loved to come away with some points on the scoreboard, but unfortunately it was not to be.
“More games like these will certainly help the team to see where we are competitively against Currie Cup Premier Division sides.
“It will help us see where we need to improve tactically and technically.
“There is no doubt EP will come out of this competition having learnt a lot of lessons.
“I think the difference in the teams was that the Pumas were composed with the ball in hand and did not give away many penalties. EP, unfortunately, conceded too many turnovers and penalties, forcing us to defend mauls for long periods in our own half.
“The Pumas punished us heavily for these errors.
“Our preparations for the SWD game have started already and I don’t think the team will dwell for long on this result.
“It was not our best performance, but we know that this is only the second game in the competition and there are more to come for us to improve our systems and put in better performances.
“EP know that every game against all the opposition will be tough and SWD are no different. They will want to come to Gqeberha and put in a good performance after we beat them in a preseason friendly game.
“We will look at the Pumas game and see what we need to fix for the upcoming game at the Wolfson Stadium.
“When you lose by a big score like we did on Friday one would be tempted to reinvent the wheel.
“But I do think that it was small things we could have done better to put in a more balanced and focused performance.”
The Eagles will arrive in Gqeberha with a spring in their step after they beat the Border Bulldogs 40-25 in East London.
Upcoming fixtures:
Friday: Cheetahs vs Pumas.
Saturday: Griquas vs Border Bulldogs, Boland Cavaliers vs Falcons, EP Elephants vs Eagles.
Sunday: Griffons vs Leopards.
Last week’s results: Boland Cavaliers 31 Griffons 34, Leopards 5 Cheetahs 76, Border Bulldogs 25 SWD Eagles 40, Pumas 61 EP Elephants 0, Griquas 66 Falcons 25.
Log (two matches): Griquas 10, Cheetahs 10, Pumas 10, Griffons 10, SWD Eagles 5, EP Elephants 5, Boland Cavaliers 2, Falcons 2, Border Bulldogs 0, Leopards 0.