WP 'pick up the pieces'

Western Province coach Allister Coetzee was left shattered after his team wasted a dominant position to slump to a demoralising defeat at Newlands.

Despite taking a lead into half-time Coetzee's team let the game slip in the wet conditions on Saturday to get their Currie Cup campaign off to a disappointing start with a narrow 25-23 defeat to the Sharks.

Coetzee was left distraught after seeing his inexperienced side make a series of basic errors to give the visitors a path back into the contest in the second half, but refused to make any excuses for a sloppy display.

"When you play against yourself it becomes a helluva uphill battle and it is just disappointing irrespective of the fact that we had nine new players, I am very disappointed at the basic errors that we made," he said.

The Western Province coach said that it is up to the senior players to turn things around quickly, especially considering the fact that they had controlled large parts of the game against a depleted Sharks outfit.

"Certain individuals know that they have got to step up and take responsibility because that wasn't good enough.

"We have got to pick up the pieces and get the confidence back in the team, I think that is what is lacking at the moment, especially for the newcomers.

"I expect the senior players to really stand up and be counted and really lead the newcomers.

"I can mention eight occasions when we had the ball on attack in the 22, not outside, where we just simply coughed it up. So we have got to make sure that we execute, there is no excuse about the weather conditions," he said.

Coetzee said that there had been many encouraging factors to his team's effort, and seemed particularly satisfied with the way that they dominated the Sharks in the set-pieces, but any enthusiasm was tempered by the fact that his team failed to take advantage of the platform they gave themselves.

"On the positive side I haven't seen us dominate the set piece against a Sharks side like we did tonight, line-outs and scrums. The whole second half we camped in their 22 but we couldn't catch the ball tonight.

"This is the first time that we have dominated a Sharks side like this we overpowered them and at set-piece time we even took their ball, we scrummed them, we drove them and yet we lost it," he said.

The Western Province boss said that the way his team managed to put the Sharks under pressure justifies the gamepan they used despite the fact that they failed to execute effectively at certain vital stages.

"If you can't catch a ball from the kick-off and they go and score then I don't think it is a system problem, it is an individual mistake, and there were too many individual errors," he asid.

Coetzee said that although Deon Carstens will be sidelined with a broken nose he is hopeful of having Steven Kitshoff and Duane Vermeulen back in the mix next weekend.

"There is a big possibility for Duane Vermeulen to be ready for us this weekend.

"Deon Carstens has got a broken nose so on tonight's assessment he could be out for a week or two and Rynhardt [Elstadt] will be assessed on Monday," he said.

In the backline flyhalf Burton Francis will have to see a specialist regarding a knee injury which will definitely keep him out for at least a week whilst another player who will miss the clash with Griquas in Kimberley on Saturday is fullback Jow Pietersen who picked up a wrist injury.

By Michael de Vries