Madibaz never stopped believing
FNB Madibaz coach Brent Janse van Rensburg has pointed to his team's incredible self-belief as the crucial factor in their remarkable late victory over the FNB Shimlas in Bloemfontein on Monday.
The Men from Port Elizabeth were easily put away by NWU-Pukke in their opening Varsity Cup game of the season seven days earlier, and it looked like things were heading the same way when they went into the half-time break 5-18 down to a Shimlas team that had demolished defending champions, UCT, the week before.
However, a sensational end to the game which saw the Madibaz score two tries in the last three minutes had the Kovsies fans holding their heads in their hands, as replacement flyhalf Bradley Kretzman's touchline conversion sailed over to seal a famous win for the visiting team.
Whilst obviously ecstatic with the dramatic win, Janse van Rensburg said that he had never stopped believing that his troops had the necessary composure and fighting spirit to pull it off.
He told varsitycup.co.za: "I always knew we could do it as long as we kept fighting and showed some patience and resilience.
"It is something we spoke a lot about in the build-up to the game as we had put some pressure on ourselves when we went behind early against Pukke the week before, so it was nice that the hard work and effort that we've been putting in paid off," added the Madibaz boss.
Janse van Rensburg said that the result was vital in instilling the belief in his players that they have the ability to beat top opposition away from home, but he added that there was no time to bask in the glory of their achievement.
He explained: "This win came at the right time and we want to acknowledge the positives so that we can take this confidence forward, but in all honesty we need to put this game behind us now and focus on where we can improve because we have a tough game against UJ next week."
The Madibaz coach believes that his team need to pick up their performance in a few key areas if they are to remain competitive going forward in 2012.
"Our set-piece accuracy is not good enough yet, and we are still having some issues with our ball retention, so our error-rate is quite high which I think is down to not having enough patience.
"But every game is an opportunity to improve, and as long as we keep calm and focus on our game then I am sure we will front up well," said Janse van Rensburg.
If the victory over Shimlas did not make the rest of the sides in the Varsity Cup sit up and take note of the rejuvenated Madibaz, then we could see a few more shocked home crowds this season, as although others may write them off the team from the windy city will always back themselves.
By Michael de Vries
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