“It was a bitterly disappointing performance,” says coach after Griquas go down to Pumas.
TAFEL Lager Griquas head coach Scott Mathie blamed poor tackling and a lack of discipline after his team came unstuck against the Phakisa Pumas.
In a very disappointing display at Tafel Lager Park on Saturday afternoon, Griquas were beaten 27-21 by the Pumas in their Vodacom Super Rugby Unlocked fixture. The visitors led 17-11 at half-time.
Many of the mistakes that Griquas made in their first-round match against the Bulls reared their ugly heads again on a very hot day – 38 degrees Celsius – at Tafel Lager Park.
Griquas only led in the opening minutes of the game when George Whitehead started them off with a penalty, although they completely dominated the early stages and almost had a try through scrumhalf Zack Burger early on.
“Very disappointing,” Mathie said of his team’s performance. “There were too many missed tackles which gave the visitors their tries … Poor defensive work as well as, once again, a lack of discipline management, giving away far too many penalties, cost us.
“We expected a tough physical fixture but unfortunately our work rate off the ball was just not good enough. We lost too much ball from line-outs and this made it incredibly difficult to find any rhythm on attack. We also need to look at the execution of our kicking game, we struggled to force any contestable battles in the air and as a result surrendered a lot of possession.
“It was a bitterly disappointing performance and one we will need to rectify quickly to be ready for the Lions in two weeks’ time,” Mathie concluded.
SCORERS
GRIQUAS – Tries: Victor Sekekete and Adre Smith. Conversions: George Whitehead (1). Penalties: Whitehead (3).
PUMAS – Tries: Ginter Smuts, Etienne Taljaard and Devon Williams. Conversions: Eddie Fouche (3). Penalties: Fouche (2).
