Sedgley Park Comment

Andre Bester

“The difference this week was our mental preparation. We made the Harlequins and Doncaster games big matches, but I told the boys forget about that, your next match is the most important and as a result we had better mental preparation this week.

We also said that we have become very one dimensional, we have become a side that has worried about losing, rather than going out there and winning matches. At the end we gave them the try because I moved Strettle to ten.

I wanted them to play some running rugby and I wanted to try and get a little bit of enjoyment back into the game. The guys are working very hard, I know the talent is in there and the ability is in there.

I was pleased with the width that we put on the game today. We could and should have scored more tries and it was all out wide with good handling. In the second half we scored some brilliant team tries.

The try Scott Donald scored was our best try of the year! Louis McGowan was at stand off; first centre was Jon Golding, second centre Jannie Bornman and wing Scott Donald. And they handled like backs and they stepped liked backs and they kept the ball alive like backs. That type of thing gives everybody a lift and it says we a very good with the ball in our hands.

The conditions out there were very difficult and when we looked at the conditions we said we were going to be in trouble against their pack. They have a big, massive pack and they were outstanding against Quins in the league the other week. But we are absolutely dominant up front now and we’re absolutely dominating everybody and it will just get better and better.

Our line out is getting better, the confidence of the guys is getting better, but the biggest positive is that we put width on our play today. And we didn’t do that against the likes of Moseley and London Welsh.

David Strettle came back and looked good, every time he got the ball he broke the gain line, Errie looked very good from full back and Mike Whitehead looked a better balanced player today than he’s looked all season.”

“It’s good to be back playing rugby, it would have been better today if the ground had held up a bit more, but it’s the same for both sides. Sedgley are very physical, we knew if we could spread it out wide we could tire them out. But give them credit; they played right until the very end.

They have some good players, a lot of them have been around a long time, they have experience and they know how to play the game. The conditions suited them more today; it would be nice to get them on a dry pitch.

But like I said it’s good to be back playing rugby, big Loui (McGowan) stepped on me in the first ten minutes and that hurt – in fact it still hurts now – that was my welcome back!

I didn’t score today, I think Scotty Donald has scored all my tries this season – I think I’ll turn creator. The injury is fine now, the players talk about a Christmas injury – having time off for Christmas - and I didn’t want to take that banter, so I made sure I came back before then.”

“We were up against a very accomplished side in Rotherham. We defended for long periods and we couldn’t establish any pressure and as you would imagine that pressure told in the end. They had too many good players who could break us with pace and they had too much class for us, therefore it was a fair result really. We tried hard but we weren’t good enough.

We have to believe we can get out of trouble because if we just throw the towel in now, the wheels will come off and we’ll get bashed every week. You know it’s a strange situation, you can go somewhere and pick up a bonus point or pick up a win and before you know it you’re back in the mix.

And at the moment our confidence is low, but that can change very quickly with a win. So obviously we are going to keep battling and fighting until we get to that point. And if we go down, we’ll go down giving it everything we’ve got.

We do lack that little bit of pace and that little bit of class, but we don’t lack endeavor and we’ve just got to keep going with that and force a win somewhere and keep on scrapping.

Effort goes without saying, if every Saturday you’re taking money to play – effort is a given. I’m glad we’ve got that and the spirit, but we’ve got to work out how we’re going to score points.”