EP players felt they let themselves down in opener

Bitterly disappointed EP Elephants players believed they let themselves down when they slipped to a heartbreaking 29-23 defeat against the Falcons in their opening SA Cup clash in Gqeberha, coach Allister Coetzee said.

Hopes had been high that a new-look EP side would collect a vital home win after they led 17-12 at halftime against a dangerous Falcons outfit at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Friday.

However, the Elephants fell short of their goals because of inaccuracy and poor discipline against a composed Falcons side who outscored them by four tries to two.

EP gave themselves a sniff of pulling off a late win when Maxwell Klaasen kicked a penalty in the 79th minute to reduce the Falcons’ lead to 29-23.

An undercooked EP side, who only played preseason games against the Border Bulldogs and SWD Eagles after they cancelled a warm-up against the Cheetahs, will have to go back to the drawing board before facing the Pumas at the Mbombela Stadium on Friday.

In their opening game, the Pumas were given a scare before they edged the SWD Eagles 28-26 at the Outeniqua Stadium in George on Friday.

EP Elephants coach Allister Coetzee. (Lee Warren)

“We were all disappointed in the changeroom afterwards, and the boys felt that they let themselves down,” Coetzee said.

“They were not as good as we thought they would be.

“This opening game against the Falcons showed us where we need to be in the SA Cup.

“We have looked back on the missing warm-up game against the Cheetahs (cancelled by EP after they had four loosehead props on the injury list).

“That is where we could have sorted out our discipline, like double tackling and not rolling away.

“This is what we should have seen against the Cheetahs, and we could have worked on matters ahead of the pressure of the Falcons game.

“However, we had all the chances in the world, and our big disappointment was the two yellow cards and the number of penalties conceded for things like not rolling away.

“There were too many penalties for being early in the maul, not rolling away and one soft offside.

“The second yellow card was a team one.

“One positive was the way we started the game,” he said.

“But in the first half we overplayed in our own half, and that is why we got stuck there.

“EP should have had a better lead going into halftime, but we gave the Falcons penalties, and we tired ourselves by overplaying.”

Coetzee said he was not happy with EP’s showing in the set pieces.

“That was because we did not have proper training and could not have live scrums (because of the injury crisis).

“With two loosehead props out, you cannot scrum, but these are not excuses.

“My concern ahead of this opening fixture against the Falcons was the mental aspect of the game.

“There was massive tension and anxiety among the players who wanted to do well.

“I have never seen certain players knocking the ball on (in training), and that was because of forcing things a little bit against the Falcons.

“EP should have stuck to the system, but they went out of the system to show what they can do and bring to the team.”

In the biggest upset of the weekend, the Boland Cavaliers pulled off a stunning 34-24 win over the Cheetahs at the Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein.

Scorers:

EP Elephants 23: Tries: Sachin Toring, Laken Gray. Conversions: Garth April (2). Penalties: April (2), Maxwell Klaasen.

Falcons 29: Tries: Ezrick Alexander, Adriaan Joubert, Pierre Rabie, Musa Tshabalala. Conversions: Sergio Staalmeester (2), Mbembe Payi. Penalty: Payi.

Results: Cheetahs 24 Boland Cavaliers 34, SWD Eagles 26 Pumas 28, EP Elephants 23 Falcons 29, Griffons 36 Border Bulldogs 17, Griquas 101 Leopards 7.

Fixtures:

Friday: Leopards vs Cheetahs, Pumas vs EP Elephants. Saturday: Border Bulldogs vs SWD Eagles. Sunday: Boland Cavaliers vs Griffons.