Loffie: Possession cost us
13 Apr 2006
Baby Boks coach Eugene Eloff lamented a lack of possession as the chief reason his team was thumped 42-13 by England at the IRB U19 World Championship on Thursday.
“The lack of possession cost us a chance to make our mark,” Eloff said following the result that saw the defending champions miss out on the semi-finals. “And that led to poor discipline. You can’t play against anyone at this level with 14 men.”
The Boks were reduced to 14 men twice – a total of 20 minutes – with the second sin-binning costing the Boks three tries after they had managed to hang on in the face of persistent pressure from the English.
The Boks conceded six tries in total and only managed two of their own, the last coming in the dying minutes. “That last try was a good effort, but it was scant consolation for us. The positive we can take is that they will learn from this hiding. The guys must take responsibility for this result.”
“We are really disappointed, the whole nation will be disappointed. It was just not our year this year.”
Eloff said he was sure that despite the thrashing, a number of the current squad were destined for greatness. “There is great potential in this squad, but there is lots of hard work that lies ahead.”
By Andrew Hollely
22 Comments
13 Apr 2006, 21:35 pm
I hate that comment ‘…lots of hard work lies ahead.’ So in other words, not a lot of hard work has gone into their preparation then.
If the northern hemisphere play their own version of the six nations in the junior divisions, why don’t we have something like that in the tri-nations?
13 Apr 2006, 21:35 pm
these are a lot of excuses and he conveniently odesn’t mention anything about the role of the coaches … they are garbage.
destined for greatness????? c’mon loffie, April fools was 12 days ago.
13 Apr 2006, 21:37 pm
PS. the only potential for greatness is only for those players who have their sights set on one day playing in a cats jersey
13 Apr 2006, 21:52 pm
The SA U19 squad and the team were selected on a ‘racial harmony’ basis, and as noble as the definition is, that’s no method to win international rugby matches.
Assuming Meneer Eloff were tied up, he needs not to appologise, we understand
13 Apr 2006, 22:16 pm
Yes, posession cost them and about 20 missed tackles, which has nothing to do with “racial harmony”. Why is it that this first time tackling problem is evident from the schoolboy level all the way up to super 14. Maybe learn to tackle before you start talking about fancy game plans and lack of posession.
14 Apr 2006, 01:55 am
onlooker that is a pathetic excuse. you won both underage tournaments last year. dud set of players more like it
14 Apr 2006, 05:04 am
What did they actually learn from this – how to be a good loser? Do not be fooled by their performance last year. I cannot remember if it were the U19 or U21 team, but in the final against NZ a Nz player only had to dot the ball down to secure the victory. There were no boks within 20 metres of him. He wanted to be cool and held the ball in one hand and as he bent down to dot down he dropped the ball – that cost them the title. So please do not believe that the team was that great last year – they were very lucky
14 Apr 2006, 06:31 am
Thats a stupid thing to say Petoors could have should have would have, How many matches can you go back to with the Boks in the last two tri nations that we hashed something up that would have own us those games?
They were better than the lot last year (obviosuly they were because they never dropped the ball over the tir line)
THEY WERE SIMPLY NO WHERE THIS YEAR
14 Apr 2006, 06:40 am
“one positive we can take is that they will learn from this hiding”
What!? sounds like something out of a cats coaching manual.
14 Apr 2006, 07:56 am
U19 + U21′s squads become strong due to the Secondary School teams, it leads onto that. NZ for example will always have strong U19′s + U21′s, due to the structure in high school levels. Best high school tournament to watch is the A-grade Auckland 1st XV competition, its just 1st class rugby. Then the NZ nationals is just as good, if not better.
14 Apr 2006, 08:00 am
They need more quotas!!!
14 Apr 2006, 08:01 am
This year it was the weekest U19 team ever. The selectors must take responsibility. Baby boks were smaller, slower, weeker then their opponents. Just look at the composition of this side. Selectors (for what ever reason but i believe political one) decided to represent all unions equally whereas last year there were best players in the country (and of course most of them came from big 4 unions).
14 Apr 2006, 08:15 am
I think in the recent past we did well in the under age competitions where natural talent could mask our inferior proffesional preperations that are so apparent in our senior teams.
But like in sevens and the senior fifteens game, the Poms, Ausies and French have improved and we are once again falling behind.
14 Apr 2006, 08:29 am
You lose some you win some.
14 Apr 2006, 08:32 am
I cannot blame Loffie. He has proved himself in the past and he did not select this team.
This was the worst performance by a junior team in years.
We were bent in the scrums, the took our balls at will and simply overpowred us. about 60kg difference i think.
Except for one or two players in the backline the rest were useless. Fat, small unfit.
Not even quotas can be blamed here.
If you saw the game, you will understand.
14 Apr 2006, 08:52 am
pompies,
you lose some and some you get annihilated. we qualify with ease for the latter.
14 Apr 2006, 10:25 am
ciccino and onlooker
Dont be stupid! The teams that won both u-19 and u-21 world champs last year had several black players in it. You guys are sad to use the race card every time we lose. The team was just ****. Both black and white were ****
14 Apr 2006, 12:01 pm
Shai, have you ever seen me saying anything about race. Race had nothing to do with what I said. White players were also very weak this year. I said that selectors went for represetativity of all unions (regardless of color of the skin).
Last year there were more colored players. But core of the players last years were from Bulls, this year just 3. Just look at current hookers for example and compare them with Chillyboy who is black but comes from the Bulls. He is fitter and more skilful then both current hookers (white and black). And this is true to all players in the current U19 squad regardles of colour. Props are fat but not strong, locks are short and not strong, loosies are weak and slow, back can’t pass, run, or tackle.
14 Apr 2006, 13:42 pm
Very true ciccino.
14 Apr 2006, 13:55 pm
Diversity in action! It’s not about being the best any more, it’s about letting everyone have a go, ie each union’s players should get a chance and X amount of pink players and Y amount of purple players should be chosen. Chairman Mao and Karl Marx would have approved!
15 Apr 2006, 07:58 am
Loffie,your team was shocking!
18 Apr 2006, 09:24 am
Loffie is shocking!!!
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