ASSISTANT national coach Chrysander Botha expressed his satisfaction after a Blue team beat a Red team 50-31 in a trial match on Saturday ahead of next weekend's match against the Blue Bulls.
In a no-holds barred match both teams displayed high levels of intensity as well as some impressive skill levels on a chilly winter's day as the Blue team ran out comfortable winners by scoring eight tries to four.
With national coach Allister Coetzee still in Italy, Botha took charge of proceedings along with Coetzee's South African assistant coaches Pine Pienaar and Barend Pieterse, and said he was impressed by the performances on display.
"It was a very tough game and I think the boys did well under the conditions. It was a bit cold and windy but there were some good collisions and a good work rate by some of the boys, and it shows that for the past four weeks of club rugby the boys have done very well," he said.
"So hats off to the boys who showed up today. I know it's not easy, coming from all over and just tossing a bunch of guys together and playing a friendly match but they showed a lot of good things. Pine and Barend are here from South Africa as well, so I'll get a lot of input from them as well to see how we can improve," he added.
The Blue team had a bit more experience, featuring regular national players like Obert Nortje, Prince Gaoseb and JC Greyling, and with other forwards like Johan Luttig, Jano Otto, Cameron Langenhoven and Boris Majiedt impressing, they soon took the lead when Greyling went over for a try in the left hand corner, converted by Oela Blaauw.
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Otto barged his way over after a forward maul, but the Red team opened their account when centre Bredell Wessels went over after a quick pass by Lesley Klim.
The Blue team's forwards soon regained the momentum, and after concerted pressure, Langenhoven and Luttig barged over for tries to put them 24-5 ahead.
The Red team struck back with a try by Klim after a great break by their fullback Jeandre Loubser, but Majiedt burst over for a try converted by Kyle Wentzel to put the Blue team 31-12 ahead at the half time break.
The second half started with a flurry as the Blue team stretched their lead through tries by centre Alcino Isaacks and flanker Gilad Plaatjies, while the Red team were awarded a penalty try to make the score 45-19.
The Blue team went 50-19 ahead when centre Darryl Wellman pounced onto a loose ball and ran 40m for a try, but the Red team finished strongly with tries by Andreas Shikongeni and Joshua Jacobs to make the final score 50-31.
It was a remarkably competitive match where numerous players grabbed their opportunities with good performances, and Botha said he was positive that they could do well against the Blue Bulls.
"We will select a team for the Blue Bulls match that we will release by Tuesday. I think if we do the small things right, the rest will fall into place, but we must also see what team the Bulls will bring. It's a great opportunity for our local players and we will just prepare them to the best of our ability," he said.
