Muir slams powder-puff pack
7 Nov 2009
Dick Muir admits the SA XV forwards grossly underperformed but was quick to fall back on the lack-of-game-time excuse.
The tourists’ scrum was embarrassed by a Leicester scrum spearheaded by Italy tighthead Martin Castrogiovanni, and their inability to commit numbers to the breakdown resulted in numerous turnovers. Muir said he was disappointed with the pack’s effort.
‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen [a South Africa pack] as bad as that, especially from a coaching perspective,’ he said. ‘We were given a bit of a lesson at the scrums. Hats off to the Tigers. They were incredibly strong in that department so we’ve got to go back to the drawing board.
‘You can’t play this game without any possession. We were poor at the breakdown and poor at set pieces so we couldn’t get the game going. We just move on. We came over here with an experiment and perhaps it didn’t come off as planned.’
Muir added that the one-week period to prepare the side was inadequate.
‘When you take a squad like this and have a short turnaround maybe you’re not as well prepared as you might be.
‘It will probably cause the guys to be a little bit more determined. When you’re on the top of the pile there’s a lot of sides who want to knock you off, so that’s the territory we’ve created for ourselves.’
Leicester coach Richard Cokeril was understandably delighted with the result. The Tigers were without five international players and were missing another nine first-choice options.
‘Our scrum was immense and Geoff Parling was superb in the front row,’ Cockerill said. ‘Rugby can get quite scientific in its analysis these days. Sometimes you just need 15 blokes to come here and roll their sleeves up. The scientists can’t quantify that. And that’s what we did.’
‘I’d have to take my hat off to the players. I read some criticism this morning about the fixture and the two sides that were put out. It was all about us tonight and the facilities we’re trying to provide. Maybe South Africa are a little shell-shocked that club rugby can be like that.’
51 Comments
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8 Nov 2009, 09:07 am
hands up all the Lions supporters who thought having **** Muir move to their province is going to turn around their fortunes next year???
hahahhaha
once a ****…always a ****.
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