FNB NMMU Madibaz suffered their second consecutive defeat, third of the tournament, on Monday when they lost to FNB UJ at the NMMU Stadium in Port Elizabeth.
The visitors from Johannesburg scored three first half and three second half tries to turn a thirteen point half time lead into a 42 - 13 bonus point win.
Speaking after the match, head coach David Maidza said the score line did not accurately reflect his team’s performance and commitment but that a number of mistakes had cost them dearly.
“The first two tries they scored, they did so off of our mistakes. We can’t keep making error after error,” said Maidza.
NMMU took an early eight point lead after flank, CJ Velleman, broke through the defence to sprint 20 meters as he scored his team's first try. Steven Hansel converted as they took an 8 - 0 lead after just two minutes.
UJ replied with three tries, two of which were converted to take a 21 - 8 half time lead.
NMMU started the second half in a similar way when left wing, Yamkela Ngam, scored his team's second try two minutes into the half. Hansel failed with the touch line conversion as the Madibaz trailed 13 - 21 in the 42nd minute.
Frustration crept in as the Madibaz struggled to build any form of momentum, with passes not going to hand causing too many handling errors.
UJ added a further two tries and a penalty try, due to poor discipline, late in the second half.
“There is no denying that the effort is there. The boys are really trying,” Maidza added.
“But, at this stage, we’re putting ourselves under a lot of pressure by making these kinds of errors.”
He said that the
opposition had also noted the Madibaz’s lighter defence and destroyed them in the mauls.
“Defending too much in our own half, especially in our 22, is definitely something we need to work on for the next match,” said Maidza.
Despite giving credit to the team for their continued effort, Maidza said they had to cut down their error rate.
“We need to make sure that we come out next week and just hammer away again.
“Once we cut out some of the silly mistakes that we have been making, we will compete better,” he said.
According to Maidza, the errors that needed to be improved on boiled down to both individual decisions and technique.
“Yes, we are a young side but we need to learn how to improve on our errors in a shorter period of time, and I do believe that if we put our heads down we can do it.
“We will be focusing on what we need to fix as a squad ahead of the next game,” he said.
The Madibaz are set to take on log leaders FNB Shimlas at the NMMU Stadium in Port Elizabeth on March 9 at 6.30pm.
Scorers:
FNB NMMU Madibaz (8) 13 - Tries: CJ Velleman, Yamkela Ngam. Coversion: Hansel
FNB UJ (21) 42 - Tries: Dylan Petersen, Robert de Bruyn (2), Adrian Vermeulen, Wian Conradie, Penalty Try. Conversions: Jaco Fourie (3), James Campbell (1)
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