Owls needs to tighten up on defence following Vereeniging loss
At least Boksburg's offence is looking more promising.
TW Boksburg Rugby Club coach Francois Erasmus was left ruing his side’s missed opportunities following the Owls’ competitive Valke Peregrine League encounter showing against front-runners Vereeniging at Prince George Park on April 13.
The Owls lost 31-37 after an improved showing in the second-half.
They trailed 19-31 at the break.
Erasmus also alluded to the ever important bonus point his team got out from the match – which can go a long way come the business end of the campaign.
Perhaps the Owls mentor’s disappointment was also heightened by the fact that his side were one try short of a scoring bonus-point when they crossed the whitewash three times courtesy of outside centre Brandon Swart, first-receiver Henry Pike and Swart’s midfield partner Damian Diedericks.
The trainer said: “It was actually a close game in the end where we lost by six points and it’s a good thing we got the bonus-point. But very disappointing as well: there’s no consistency, our defence let us down, and there were some handling errors as well.
“Our line outs were really bad and it cost us a lot of missed opportunities. We’ll have to work harder going forward otherwise we’re going to have a really long season.”
Indeed, Owls captain Johan Labuschagne and company will have to tighten the screws on what has been a points-gifting defence thus far.
By doing so, they will give themselves a much better chance to close out games, especially conceding scores of 43, 26 and 31 in their first three games.
Pike added 16 more points from the boot on top of his five pointer for an overhaul haul of 21.
Junius Deysel, Lian Ambrosius and a Wiam Koekemoer brace were Vereeniging’s scorers. Scrum-half Heino Keyser completed a 100 per cent conversion rate and added three penalties.
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