Florence – Springbok captain Adriaan Strauss has admitted that his team were at rock bottom after losing 20-18 to Italy.
But the Boks captain could not confidently predict how they would change their fortunes with Wales looming next Saturday.
“This was a very dark day for the players‚ management and the whole of the SA rugby public‚” Strauss said
“We apologise for it‚ although that won't make anybody feel better about it.
"We are not going to offer any excuses‚ what happened today was not worthy of what we stand for as a team and as a rugby playing country.
"We are in a dark place at the moment and we must get ourselves out of it.
“The blows to the body are fine‚ but the blows to the heart will stay for a long time. It’s tough to deal with this but it’s important to now make the right decisions and have the right conversations.
“From my perspective I don’t want to make waves‚ I would like to make a difference where I can. I accepted this [captaincy] challenge at the beginning of the year and I’m still up for it.
“I will do whatever I can to help SA Rugby and contribute wherever I can.”
The Boks have now lost seven of their 11 Tests in 2016 and one more defeat would make it statistically the worst season since the Springboks were readmitted to Test rugby in 1992.
Coach Allister Coetzee once again bemoaned ‘silly mistakes’ and he was not wrong.
But it’s a recurring theme from the coaching staff‚ yet nothing appears to improve from week to week.
“The players have to take ownership on the field‚” Coetzee said.
“We will have a platform to discuss other issues but as a team we need to deal with on field problems.
“Our job is to get the Springbok team to win again.
“It’s not good enough losing to Italy‚ just as it wasn’t good enough losing to Japan. That’s no disrespect to Italy because they deserved their win.
“They tackled and tackled and fought for their win. But in the first 30 minutes of the game we had many opportunities.
“I look at it in disbelief and ask myself‚ ‘why can’t we take the chances‚ and why can’t we round off scoring opportunities.
“We had a five on two situation and we couldn’t score. Why? I don’t have the answer for you.
“It could come from poor decisions. We had spoken about scoring back-to-back points‚ but after we scored a try we immediately let them score because of a silly penalty. They are simple errors we are making.
“We did a lot right through the kicking game and playing in the right areas. We had about five or six lineouts in the opposition 22-metre area and yet we haven’t capitalised or converted any of those chances.
“It’s embarrassing if I’m honest. We had a good plan and the players bought into it‚ but somehow when the pressure was on and Italy stayed close‚ and gained belief‚ we went outside of our plan.” - TMG Digital
Captain Strauss admits the ailing Springboks have now hit rock bottom
Florence – Springbok captain Adriaan Strauss has admitted that his team were at rock bottom after losing 20-18 to Italy.
But the Boks captain could not confidently predict how they would change their fortunes with Wales looming next Saturday.
“This was a very dark day for the players‚ management and the whole of the SA rugby public‚” Strauss said
“We apologise for it‚ although that won't make anybody feel better about it.
"We are not going to offer any excuses‚ what happened today was not worthy of what we stand for as a team and as a rugby playing country.
"We are in a dark place at the moment and we must get ourselves out of it.
“The blows to the body are fine‚ but the blows to the heart will stay for a long time. It’s tough to deal with this but it’s important to now make the right decisions and have the right conversations.
“From my perspective I don’t want to make waves‚ I would like to make a difference where I can. I accepted this [captaincy] challenge at the beginning of the year and I’m still up for it.
“I will do whatever I can to help SA Rugby and contribute wherever I can.”
The Boks have now lost seven of their 11 Tests in 2016 and one more defeat would make it statistically the worst season since the Springboks were readmitted to Test rugby in 1992.
Coach Allister Coetzee once again bemoaned ‘silly mistakes’ and he was not wrong.
But it’s a recurring theme from the coaching staff‚ yet nothing appears to improve from week to week.
“The players have to take ownership on the field‚” Coetzee said.
“We will have a platform to discuss other issues but as a team we need to deal with on field problems.
“Our job is to get the Springbok team to win again.
“It’s not good enough losing to Italy‚ just as it wasn’t good enough losing to Japan. That’s no disrespect to Italy because they deserved their win.
“They tackled and tackled and fought for their win. But in the first 30 minutes of the game we had many opportunities.
“I look at it in disbelief and ask myself‚ ‘why can’t we take the chances‚ and why can’t we round off scoring opportunities.
“We had a five on two situation and we couldn’t score. Why? I don’t have the answer for you.
“It could come from poor decisions. We had spoken about scoring back-to-back points‚ but after we scored a try we immediately let them score because of a silly penalty. They are simple errors we are making.
“We did a lot right through the kicking game and playing in the right areas. We had about five or six lineouts in the opposition 22-metre area and yet we haven’t capitalised or converted any of those chances.
“It’s embarrassing if I’m honest. We had a good plan and the players bought into it‚ but somehow when the pressure was on and Italy stayed close‚ and gained belief‚ we went outside of our plan.” - TMG Digital
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