Vodacom Super 14
Erasmus: I will resign
2009-03-02 06:59
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Stephen Nell - Die Burger
Cape Town - Stormers coach Rassie Erasmus has said he will walk away from the team if he senses the players no longer believe in his ideas.
“The moment I feel the players no longer believe in what we do, I will resign. It’s as simple as that,” Erasmus said on Saturday night after the Stormers again disappointed a home crowd of 40,000 by losing 8-14 to the Blues at Newlands.
“If I believe the players can see we are on the right track and improving in the areas where we are weak, it’s just a matter of time before everything comes together.”
But while Erasmus may believe the latter is currently the situation, the Stormers were not better than they were in the previous week’s narrow win over the Reds. If anything, it appears as if the handling errors are increasing, with even stars such as Schalk Burger and Andries Bekker making elementary mistakes.
The one big positive Erasmus is hanging onto is that the Stormers are creating opportunities. They should have been out of sight by half-time, but simply don’t put enough points on the board when they get scoring chances. One also gets the impression the Stormers view the incredible support they get at Newlands as a hindrance rather than trying to draw strength from it. Can it be that everyone should just learn to relax?
The Stormers did attempt to play the game less in their own territory than was the case against the Sharks and Reds. Ricky Januarie’s boot was used for this, but like his colleagues his execution was not always good. One such high kick led to the try he ended up scoring himself, though.
The Stormers were under pressure up front from the first scrum of the day, with the likes of All Black front rowers Tony Woodcock, Keven Mealamu and John Afoa having a field day. Deep in the second half both JD Moller and Brian Mujati had left the field, which resulted in uncontested scrums. However, the ploy backfired as they could not compete for possession in the last scrum. It’s an open question whether the props were really injured ...
Whatever the situation, the whole episode of 80 minutes was enough to send the blood pressure of Stormers fans soaring. Not to mention the prospect of visiting Loftus this coming weekend …