As was the specimen last week when SA A lost to Munster, there were moreover very few positives on Thursday night as South Africa A produced an underwhelming performance that led to a 26-18 defeat versus the Bristol Bears at Ashton Gate Stadium.
It’s been difficult to identify really any players who used the time with the South Africa A team to whop their rationalization for Springbok selection, with Grant Williams and Sikhumbuzo Notshe perhaps the weightier when and forward respectively.
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These results come as the Springboks have moreover slumped to defeats versus Ireland and France, while on Thursday, World Rugby issued Rassie Erasmus with a ban on all match-day activities for two matches as a result of recent social media posts.
All in all, it’s starting to turn into a truly nightmare tour for South Africa, and there will now be massive pressure on the Springboks to restore some faith by ultimatum a big win over Italy this weekend.
When it came to the SA A team on Thursday, they trailed 13-6 at the unravel versus Bristol, who built on that in the second half to personize the victory that was made easier by the error-ridden effort by the tourists.
“The honest truth is that I am disappointed,” coach Mzwanedile Stick commented afterwards. “The potential we’ve got in the changeroom and the players that we’ve got, I felt that we have sunny players and experienced players in the squad.
“We didn’t play to the standard that we’ve got in that dressing room. Sometimes, maybe the players were trying to play like a trial game where everyone wants to do their own thing.
“The moment that we started playing like a team and sticking to the plan, trappy things were happening. It showed in the try scored by Ntuthuko Mchunu. Once we played in front of our forwards and played direct, we started dominating the game.
“When we decided to spread the wittiness wide, the wittiness retention at the breakdowns was poor. Losing the wittiness in the wider channels let us down. I am disappointed, but only considering I know the material we had in the dressing room. We really had players that can win us games.”
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Scorers:
Bristol Bears 26 (13) – Tries: Gabriel Ibitoye, Yann Thomas. Conversions: Callum Sheedy (2). Penalty goals: Sheedy (4).
South Africa ‘A’ 18 (6) – Tries: Ntuthuko Mchunu, Sikhumbuzo Notshe. Conversion: Johan Goosen. Penalty goals: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (2).
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