Ertugral is not relieved yet... ‘Next game is very important’
THE BLITZBOKS could provide the cherry on top of a superb 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games if they successfully defend their title from four years ago.
The South African Sevens side will kick off their campaign tomorrow where they will Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and Scotland.
The Springbok Women’s Sevens team will be making history today when they run out onto the field for the first ever Rugby Sevens Women’s tournament at the Commonwealth Games.
Blitzbok coach Neil Powell said his team would not only be going after their second consecutive gold medal at the quadrennial showpiece, but use it as a dry run for the Tokyo Olympics.
“We are not only hoping to win the gold medal again, we are also using this opportunity to align with the multi-coded aspect of the Games,” Powell said.
“We are already planning the next Olympic Games, in 2020, and see this as a trial run towards that.
“We made some mistakes in this regard leading up to Rio 2016 and want to make sure it does not happen again.”
Powell suffered an early setback after Ryan Oosthuizen was forced to withdraw from the Games due to a hamstring injury with Selvyn Davids receiving a call-up.
The national coach had to strike a delicate balance Games success without jeopardising the rest of their season which includes the chase for the World Rugby Sevens Series title and preparing the squad for the Rugby World Cup Sevens later this year.
“It is a challenging year with three main events and the key will be on how we manage the players through the season,” Powell said.
“We needed to plan properly, with the importance being the well-being of the players. That was one of the reasons why we had a young team in Hong Kong last week, for example.”
The women’s side will face a baptism of fire when they take on Canada and New Zealand, who are both ranked in the top three in the world, on the first day of the tournament. They will face Kenya in their final pool match tomorrow.
Springbok Women’s Sevens coach Paul Delport said the team needed to make a step up to prove that they belong at the highest level.
“We are playing with the Springbok on our chests and that means a lot, but the reality of our situation is that we are a second-tier team in the women’s game,” Delport said.
“This is why our participation here creates a wonderful opportunity to get more women into the game.
“We will be hoping to qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games and create a pathway through Sevens for women wanting to go to the Olympics and represent their country.”
Meanwhile, South Africa’s early gold rush at the Games slowed down yesterday but the harvest continued mostly in the form of silver and bronze.
While the country’s medals tally increased to 32 – 11 gold, nine silver and 12 bronze – they slipped one place to fifth on the standings.
The country won three more medals on the track courtesy of a sprint double from visually impaired athletes Johnny Ntutu and Hilton Langenhoven, who won the 100m gold and silver respectively.
South African women’s 29-year-old 400m hurdles ace Wenda Nel added the third medal, winning bronze in her specialist event.
Amateur wrestler Hanru Botha’s hopes of winning gold in the 74-kilogram category were short-lived with former world champion Sushil Kumar of India outclassing the South African to win his third consecutive title.
Botha nevertheless walked away with a silver medal to give SA its first wrestling gong at the Gold Coast Games.
The wrestler lost to Kumar, who won the bout 10-0 on technical superiority.
Fellow grappler Kleinjan Combrinck missed out on a medal with Nigeria’s Ebikwenimo Welson beating him 5-2 for the bronze in the 57kg category.
World Under-23 Mountain Bike silver medallist Alan Hatherly produced an impressive performance to bag SA’s first medal in the event claiming the bronze.
Earlier, disabled lawn bowls trio Christopher Patton, Tobias Botha and Willem Viljoen beat England 16-13 to win the B6/ B7/B8 triples bronze medal.
Colleen Piketh and Nicolene Neal will have a shot at SA’s first lawn bowls gold at these Games when they take on Malaysia in the women’s pair today.
The South African netball team staved off a determined Uganda claiming a 53-42 victory over their African counterparts. AJAX CAPE TOWN coach Muhsin Ertugral admits he has had to adopt a different approach for the team’s final games of the season. Initially, after he arrived for his fourth stint at the helm of the Cape side, he erred by trying to get the team to play their usual passing game; it never had the desired effect. Now, as witnessed in the ugly but effective 1-0 win over Wits at Athlone on Wednesday, Ertugral has put the result first and changed to a counter-attack style of football.
The Cape side is in Port Elizabeth on Sunday for another hugely-important clash against Chippa United at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium (kickoff 3pm).
Ajax are still not out of danger. In the PSL basement, with four games to go, Platinum Stars prop things up with 21 points, Ajax are on 27, SuperSport United on 28, Polokwane City on 30 and Golden Arrows on 31. The team finishing last will be relegated to the National First Division (NFD), while the side ending second-last goes into a promotion/relegation play-off with the teams finishing second and third on the NFD log. The dogfight to avoid the two bottom places is likely to go all the way to the last game.
The big thing, of course, is the Capetonians’ away form; they’ve picked up just three points on the road the entire season. Ertugral is, however, confident that they can come away with something. “The most important aspect is to first see how much the players left on the field against Wits on Wednesday,” said the Turkish coach. “I have to check on the energy levels and see whether I may have to freshen things up. I think our problems away from home are mostly psychological. I talk a lot to the players and I’m the type of coach that wants players to talk back; so they open up a lot to me and I believe it’s the feeling, the pressure, that has affected the players.
“While the win against Wits was good, it was only a step. I’m not relieved as yet – because the next game (against Chippa on Sunday) is very important.”
Ertugral was happy with the performance against Wits – and, more importantly, the way the team carried out the game plan. “It wasn’t a beauty contest, the game was about giving everything,” said the Ajax coach after the win against Wits. “The organisation, how we played, how we executed the plans were all good. After we scored, we had to go backwards and let them have the ball. The boys did well to block their zones and close down the half-spaces. They could still come at us, but they never really had any clear chances. I was very happy with the team’s energy, we got to the second balls and were good in aerial duels.
“Now we are coming up against a side who also likes to play counter-attack football.”
With four games remaining for Ajax – Chippa (away), Baroka FC (home), Mamelodi Sundowns (away) and Kaizer Chiefs (home) – there is no margin for error for Ertugral and his men.
Meanwhile, Cape Town City host SuperSport United at the Cape Town Stadium tomorrow night (kickoff 8.15pm) – and they can do neighbours Ajax a huge favour with a win over the struggling, third-from-bottom Pretoria club.