Tigers no match for fiery Police
Police thrashed Berlin Tigers 31-7 during the third Eastern Cape Super 12 club rugby competition encounter in Berlin over the weekend.
With two games remaining in the Super 12 pool stages, Police have managed to collect 11 points after winning two games with bonus points and loss. Police are now sitting at the summit of group B logstandings with Berlin Tigers sitting fourth place with four points after one win and one loss.
Police coach Fergus Kennedy said it was a challenge playing in the rural areas and his guys struggled in the first 20 minutes to get their fifth gear, but he was relieved they managed to get it together as Tigers were determined to go all out for a win.
“The boys really struggled with the pitch, because now that’s a different setup. But the guys enjoyed themselves once they adapted.
“I think we were okay defensively, but there was no structure, the guys were lost from time to time.
“And then we had to make forced changes thanks to injuries we picked up in the backline. We lost seven players that got injured whom I won’t mention,” said Kennedy.
“The changes we made affected our game the most, but one substitution we made that had an impact was Skhangele Mtheza.
“Mtheza managed to cover the entire backline, and then our wing got injured and we had to play Mtheza at 12th man, and that worked perfectly for us. Mtheza is a brilliant allrounder – he can play anywhere.”
Kennedy added: “If we can win our setpieces and pick up another win that would make things easy for us.
“Because looking at the log, if we pick up five points against Breakers this coming weekend we’ll make it to the semifinals, that’s the goal right now but we’ll take it each game at a time,” said Kennedy.
Tigers coach Leo Mbini conceded his charges did not fight hard enough for a positive result, and he also gave thumbs up to the opposition “for a welldeserved win”.
“Police came to us with a very good plan I must admit, and they executed it well. As much as we had a brilliant plan for them – we had a lot of things that cost us that game.
“And then Police came and exploited those mistakes, and those errors that we made resulted into tries against us,” said Mbini.
The Tigers mentor said the lack of game time for his side also contributed to losing by such high score margins.
“If you looking at us we haven’t had enough game unlike other teams of which I think that was another stumbling block for us.
“We were also playing with some guys out of their positions because there are those that missed the game due to other commitments.
“I think those are the few things that made us lose the game, but we cannot undermine and say we gave the game to Police. They played and they deserve to win because they had all their cards in place,” said Mbini.
The Super League reigning champs Swallows are currently preparing for the Gold Cup tournament and have withdrawn from the Super 12..
I think we were okay in defence, but there was no structure, the guys were lost