AFTER LEINSTER BECAME the first team to win a Pro14 game in the southern tip of Africa with comprehensive 31-10 victory over the Southern Kings in Port Elizabeth, Rhys Ruddock admitted his side were below their best on the day.
The province’s captain said they had to dig deep and use up considerable energy in the ‘championship period’ straight after the break.
“Sometimes, when it’s a big stadium and not a huge amount of people attending, you’ve just got to bring your own energy, and I think that the energy (the Southern Kings) brought was greater than ours in the first half,” he said.
That kind of left us second best a lot of the time, but we regrouped at half-time. I thought that the intent and the energy that we brought at the start of the second half allowed us to get a foothold in the game and we grew from there.
“I’m disappointed with the way we played, but by the same token, credit to the way they played as well. They put us under a lot of pressure with ball in hand and it was tough to defend.”
Leo Cullen’s side flew out to Cape Town on Sunday, where they will be spending the week in the build-up to their second Guinness Pro14 game in South Africa.
Advertisement
The eastern province will also receive a major boost in the Mother City, with the club captain Isa Nacewa and scrumhalf, Jamison Gibson-Park, re-joining the squad after being deported on Wednesday due to visa issues.
While Leinster didn’t miss the pair too much at the disappointingly empty Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, their return will be valuable against the Toyota Cheetahs, who earned bonus point 54-39 win over Zebre in Bloemfontein.
The Kings did control the breakdown during the first half in the Friendly City, and this factor led to Leinster conceding numerous penalties, which allowed the home side to stay in the game and trail by just 7-3 going in at the break.
Looking ahead to next week, the Irish province will have to deal with altitude in Bloemfontein, and Cullen feels that being in Cape of Hope for now will suit them.
We want to just try to keep it normal for our preparations, because we usually just fly to a venue for an away game the day before, and that’s what we will do going up to Bloemfontein.
“We’ve just picked a place to train and we have a couple of contacts in Cape Town, so that was just for the ease of our training week.
It just breaks up the trip for us as well, I think it will work pretty well.”
The team will use Bishops Diocesan College in Rondesbosch as their base for the week. The school is renowned as being one of the top rugby factories in South Africa and it is the Alma Mater to Springboks players, such as Robbie Fleck, Francois Louw and Guy Kebble, while it has also produced numerous English internationals, the latest being Stuart Abbott.
Friday evening’s game between the Toyota Cheetahs and Leinster at the Toyota Stadium kicks off at 19:00 Irish time.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
5 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
'When it’s a big stadium and not a huge amount of people, you’ve just got to bring your own energy'
AFTER LEINSTER BECAME the first team to win a Pro14 game in the southern tip of Africa with comprehensive 31-10 victory over the Southern Kings in Port Elizabeth, Rhys Ruddock admitted his side were below their best on the day.
The province’s captain said they had to dig deep and use up considerable energy in the ‘championship period’ straight after the break.
“Sometimes, when it’s a big stadium and not a huge amount of people attending, you’ve just got to bring your own energy, and I think that the energy (the Southern Kings) brought was greater than ours in the first half,” he said.
“I’m disappointed with the way we played, but by the same token, credit to the way they played as well. They put us under a lot of pressure with ball in hand and it was tough to defend.”
Leo Cullen’s side flew out to Cape Town on Sunday, where they will be spending the week in the build-up to their second Guinness Pro14 game in South Africa.
The eastern province will also receive a major boost in the Mother City, with the club captain Isa Nacewa and scrumhalf, Jamison Gibson-Park, re-joining the squad after being deported on Wednesday due to visa issues.
While Leinster didn’t miss the pair too much at the disappointingly empty Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, their return will be valuable against the Toyota Cheetahs, who earned bonus point 54-39 win over Zebre in Bloemfontein.
The Kings did control the breakdown during the first half in the Friendly City, and this factor led to Leinster conceding numerous penalties, which allowed the home side to stay in the game and trail by just 7-3 going in at the break.
Looking ahead to next week, the Irish province will have to deal with altitude in Bloemfontein, and Cullen feels that being in Cape of Hope for now will suit them.
“We’ve just picked a place to train and we have a couple of contacts in Cape Town, so that was just for the ease of our training week.
The team will use Bishops Diocesan College in Rondesbosch as their base for the week. The school is renowned as being one of the top rugby factories in South Africa and it is the Alma Mater to Springboks players, such as Robbie Fleck, Francois Louw and Guy Kebble, while it has also produced numerous English internationals, the latest being Stuart Abbott.
Friday evening’s game between the Toyota Cheetahs and Leinster at the Toyota Stadium kicks off at 19:00 Irish time.
Subscribe to The42 podcasts here:
Australia come from behind to seal first Rugby Championship win>
Irish out-half McKinley hails ‘beautiful victory’ after Treviso pick up unlikely win>
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Alternative Guinness Pro14 Leinster Leo Cullen Rhys Ruddock southern kings