McKenzie defends late arrival
Mon, 05 May 2008 14:45
Waratahs coach Ewen McKenzie has defended his decision to take his squad to South Africa only two days before their eventual 13-16 loss to the Bulls on Saturday.
McKenzie and his team came in for some stinging criticism after their defeat but the coach was adamant their preparation for the South African leg - which included a 14-hour flight that arrived late Thursday afternoon - played no role in their defeat.
"[I] talked to the players. There was no issues," a defiant McKenzie told the Sydney Morning Herald.
At half-time, the guys were good.
"We made replacements later than we thought we might because the guys were coping. We had plenty of chances to win it.
"We will rue our decisions on the field. We are not going to rue anything in preparation. We had enough there to be able to win the game," added McKenzie.
In support of his argument, McKenzie said his 26-man playing squad recorded an unprecedented perfect record in their daily hydration readings.
"For the first time we had a 100 percent success on hydration," he said.
"You won't get any complaints from the players. They all felt good.
"We are not going to look at that for a reason. We are going to look at what we did on the field," he added.
Meanwhile, Waratahs captain Phil Waugh still felt the match was always there for the taking.
"It [the weather] obviously suited them," said Waugh.
"They kicked a lot better than we did.
"But we had our chances to score. We could have gone 14-0 up - it [would be] a different game then.
"There are critical moments that change momentum. And we were on the receiving end of those," added Waugh.
Waugh said his team had committed many of the same errors at the re-starts in other games but still managed to win.
"But against a team like the Bulls at Loftus with their kicking game, it hurts you," he said.
Waugh criticised referee Lyndon Bray for failing to stop the Bulls slowing down the ball at the breakdown.
"Lyndon [Bray] said at the start of the game he wanted quality set-piece ball and quick ruck ball," Waugh said.
"It felt like every time we went to the ruck, there was someone lying on the ball.
"It felt like they were repeat infringements, the same stuff over and over - blokes just lying on our ball. We wanted to play, and we couldn't play. It just gets frustrating," concluded Waugh.
