SOUTHERN Kings and Eastern Province coach Alan Solomons said yesterday that despite losing all their games against SA’s Super Rugby franchises, he and his players benefited immensely from the clashes.
The Kings suffered a 38-13 defeat against the Sharks in Port Elizabeth on Friday in the final clash as part of the South African Rugby Union’s plan to prepare them for their entry into Super Rugby next year. With the Eastern Cape team trailing only 10-3 at half-time, Solomons had high hopes that his team would be competitive next season.
He said while the players had the luxury of being exposed to the high standard of Super Rugby, the games gave him a good idea of which players in the region would be able to cope at that level of the game.
“Playing those matches was a positive exercise because apart from giving the players a taste of what to expect in Super Rugby and offering them an opportunity to stake a claim for places in the squad, we also had the luxury of playing in George, East London and Port Elizabeth,” Solomons said.
“That said, it is important to consider the fact that we played five matches in 20 days, which meant that we had to select a Border and South Western Districts team to play in two of the matches and a side made up mainly of Eastern Province players for the other matches. But it was particularly encouraging that we only struggled in the game against the Lions.”
He admitted, however, that his side was outclassed in the second half of the fixtures against the Sharks and Stormers as both sides boast a handful of Springbok players.
But Solomons was particularly pleased that they were able to limit those teams to only 10-3 and 12-10 half-time leads respectively.
“It was an invaluable experience for the players to go up against what were close to full-strength Sharks and Stormers teams,” said the coach. “Unfortunately the Sharks had too much power in the second half, while the Stormers’ skills were impressive. But the players saw what was required at this level. I am confident, though, that we will be able to close that skills gap.”
Looking ahead, Solomons said the next step in forming a competitive Super Rugby franchise would be to study the video footage of all the games to determine which players should be offered contracts to join the core of players already contracted until the 2013 season.
He also said they were looking to lure a few South African players back from Europe.
“We have given the players in the Eastern Cape the first bite of the cherry, but our recruitment process also covers players whose European contracts expire in June and other local players whose contracts end later this year,” Solomons said.
isaacsz@bdfm.co.za
Article source: http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=165328
