Praise for Madibaz

[caption id="attachment_72790" align="alignright" width="300"] TEAM WORK: Madibaz players Jarryd Buys, left, Ivan Ludick, centre, and Michael Bernardt during their Varsity Cup showdown against the Shimlas in Port Elizabeth on Monday night - Picture: SASPA[/caption]

MADIBAZ head coach David Maidza has praised his team for sticking to their game plan even though they lost narrowly to the high-flying Shimlas in a Varsity Cup match on Monday.

The ambitious coach now wants his team to maintain their focus when they travel to Stellenbosch to face Maties at the Danie Craven Stadium in their penultimate league match on Monday.

The Shimlas snatched a lastminute 23-21 win over a gutsy Madibaz team to maintain their unbeaten record in a heartstopping clash.

With the game in the balance right until the end, cool-headed Shimlas flyhalf Niel Marais kicked a penalty in the final moments to keep his team's unbeaten record intact and break the hearts of the brave Madibaz team.

“We implemented the strategies we had been working on all week, and it was good to see the team working together to improve against Shimlas.”

Maidza said there was definitely a big improvement in the NMMU team’s performance this week, especially when considering how close the result had been against one of the top teams this season.

He said the effort his team had been putting in to minimise their errors had paid off on the night.

“The best part about Monday’s match was that we stuck exactly to how we practised playing the game.

“We stayed out of our own half for much of the game. We were attacking in the Shimlas’ half, instead of defending in our own all match.

“The effort has been there all along . . . and I think on Monday we were a bit more accurate with what we wanted to achieve in our game plan.”

According to Maidza, one of the key qualities that shone through on the night was the players’ willingness to learn.

“Although we weren’t close enough to finish them off, it is all part and parcel of growing as a young group and we will keep on learning.

“I think we have now learnt the steps we need to be taking to move forward in the next game.”

Maidza said the team would also reflect on where they had gone wrong and keep working on that.

“We still need to improve on what we did on Monday night and I believe we can.”

In Monday’s curtain-raiser, the NMMU’s Young Guns squad claimed a convincing 44-0 victory over the CUT Young Guns at the NMMU Stadium.

The home team secured a hard-fought second win in as many matches to put them third on the Varsity Cup Young Guns log behind second-placed Tuks and log leaders UFS.

-George Byron