'Stars' let Province down
Sun, 05 Oct 2008 22:38
Western Province captain Jean de Villiers pointed to the failure of the team's many stars to produce the goods on the day as the reason why they failed in their goal of reaching the Currie Cup play-offs.
It was a rather sad conclusion for WP to their season, even though they beat the Lions 14-6 in their final Currie Cup fixture at Newlands at the weekend.
The Springbok laden side needed to score four tries and win by 19 points or more to overtake the Lions in the race for the final semifinal place.
It never looked like happening.
"We had the opportunities, but we just didn't capitalise," said De Villiers, who scored one of his team's two tries on the day - a second-half interception when the Lions were hot on the attack.
"I think our individual brilliance, which is usually our big strength, was also our big weakness."
"You also can't blame our failure to qualify on this result. We will have to look at a few below par performances throughout the season. Last week against Boland was just one example where we should have scored more points. That could have seen us in the semifinal."
Coach Allister Coetzee preferred to concentrate on the positives and believes WP have obtained some important momentum at the back end of the season.
"It's never acceptable not to make the semifinals," he said.
"It's disappointing, but we have won five from five, and have scored 23 log points from a possible 25 in the final five games.
"We have learned a few lessons about depth. We had a number of injuries and 13 Boks players leaving our side throughout the season. This affected us, but next year we will have more players like Wicus Blaauw and JC Kritzinger playing in their second year of Currie Cup rugby."
On the point of relying on individuals to do the job against the Lions, Coetzee said you will always need the special stars to make the difference in the regional competition.
"You don't win games on structure in the Super 14. You need that individual brilliance to win big games."
Coetzee and De Villiers concurred about the outcome of next weekend's semifinals.
The Sharks and Blue Bulls are their favourites to contest the Currie Cup Final.
"The Lions played to get in a semifinal at Newlands," said De Villiers. "But they weren't the better team on the day, and I suppose there's a debate whether they'll be good enough to be in the Final."
