The results of pre-season matches – where teams are still finding their feet, finding players, testing combinations – are rarely of any value to anyone, save a few fans who place great store on winning above all else.
By Michael Marnewick
And then there are the fans who take great pleasure in making derogatory remarks about the loss a team might suffer in one of these meaningless (in terms of results that is) matches. As if early season form is a precursor to what may come in the season ahead.
How well they would do to use the example of the most successful team in Super Rugby history. Each year they start off with some indifferent form and a few losses, but are always in the mix come knock-out time. Indeed, their first year of Super Rugby was a disaster – they finished stone last.
I’ve come across a great many coaches who all subscribe to the same notion: ‘if we execute as we have prepared, the result will take care of itself.’ In essence, they are transferring the pressure from winning to execution. It’s not about scoring more points, it’s about creating opportunities and closing them out that matters.
And assessing the warm-up matches taking place now ahead of the Super Rugby competition, the results need to be seen in context. In fact, the results need to be discarded. If it weren’t for television and live audiences, the coaches probably wouldn’t even bother to switch on the scoreboards.
The Sharks returned from their trip to the UK where they met Saracens for a ‘hit-out’ match. It was the first game for The Sharks players in months while Saracens are five months into their regular season. Conditions were atrocious and they played on an artificial pitch. Probably not the ideal fixture to play at this time of the year, but a good PR exercise and those who played would have benefitted from the contact.
Sharks Director of Rugby Jake White admitted: “I said to the players afterwards in the change room they’d be naïve to think we were going to beat a team that’s top of the Premiership and consistently been in the top three for the last few years.”
The Sharks will play the Lions next Friday evening in their second and final warm-up match at Ellis Park. “I’d like to get some cohesion going with the main guys as well as try and give opportunities to guys who I think might be needed in the next few weeks,” explained White who also guided the Springboks to World Cup glory in 2007. “We’ll use that match as a double trial, one for seniors and also an opportunity for the juniors. What we want to get out of this is that I’d like my main guys to be playing and I’d like some of the juniors to also get some game time.”
The Stormers play the Bulls on Saturday afternoon for a pre-season match, one that coach Alistair Coetzee would still like to win.
“Let me say from the outset that the results of these warm-up matches are not of primary importance, but that does not mean we won’t – or don’t – care about winning,” he said on thestormers.com
This is the first of three matches they will play before Super Rugby kicks off. The others are against the Kings and Boland.
The Bulls have high expectations this year, coach Fans Ludeke alluding to the fact that they want to emulate their feats of the mid 2000s when they won three titles between 2007 and 2010.
“The players understand the squad principle and all are keen to contribute towards achieving our goal of winning the 2014 tournament,” he was quoted as saying on the Bulls official website.
Ultimately, it’s not about winning pre-season matches, but preparing for the competition proper and then winning the darn thing!
