Madibaz coach eyes team's next hurdle

George Byron

DAVID Maidza, the Madibaz coach, is not getting carried away by his team's historic maiden 45-29 win over the Maties in an action- packed FNB Varsity Cup match on Monday.

Despite the stunning victory, the shrewd Maidza is concerned his team leaked a few tries at the end which took a little bit of gloss off the victory.

With the win now in the history books, Maidza is focusing his attention on what will be a tough clash against UJ in Johannesburg on Monday.

"Overall, I thought the boys did very well for the first game," Maidza said.

"We went out and executed what we wanted to do, we stuck to a lot of our structures and we played as a team. I'm very happy about that.

"But there will always be things to work on and there are a few things we need to tie up.

"I thought the forwards really laid the foundation and put us on a good footing.

"When you score tries like that and your kicker is kicking well, it deflates the opposition with those extra points stretching the lead and not giving them opportunities to come back."

The NMMU coach said his side then took the game away from the Western Cape outfit by defending well on their own tryline and stretching the scoreline with another goal to take the score to 29-0 early in the second half.

"In that, there was a lot of character shown by the players and hopefully it augurs well for the rest of the season."

The home side, however, allowed the Maties back into the game after that, with the Stellenbosch team scoring three converted tries to the Madibaz' two. "Whether it was the players tiring or the changes we made, it wasn't the best of finishes," Maidza said.

"The tries that werescored against us were not tries thatI would like us to concede, especially if we're in a tighter game than that."

Maidza said his team's strong mauling play, which produced five of the six tries, and their ball control through the phases were to be commended.

He was happy to come away with a bonus point in addition to the win. "The first game is now done and dusted. We have to prepare really well for our game against UJ next week."

He said the Johannesburg team had a good pack of forwards, which FNB Madibaz would have to counter strongly to stem the orange tide.

"We've got a good squad that we can always count on. It's not about the 23 that ran on [on Monday], it's about the 36 players we've put together."