Post Pirate Comment

Andre Bester

“It was a workmanlike performance. If you want to win this league and that’s what Harlequins have proved this season, you have to do a workmanlike job on this league. They go out there, they grind out their wins whenever they have to and then they start ticking off the tries to get the bonus points. That’s what we did today.

We played very much inside ourselves but the players are getting more and more confident. But to me and I’ve said this to the players inside, the most important thing is how you react to this win. You can’t get carried away by this win today!

The mark of a professional is not to get himself up for matches against Pirates, Bedford and Harlequins. The mark of a professional is when he gets himself up for matches week in and week out, for matches that he’s supposed to win very easily. It’s a matter for maturity and you know we are going to hit the wall; we will hit the wall again.

People were probably criticising – not that I’m ever bothered about what anyone else says – and wondering about certain team selections I’m making and how I operate. But if you say to me now I would have lost that match because of my team selection, I would have still gone with that selection. Because I’ve learned a lot more out of these games, wining and losing, than people can imagine. There’s a much bigger plan than only a win here.

Morne played very well, very satisfactory, I think that in him and Joe we have two very good scrum half’s. It will be a task of ours to make sure Morne develops if he’s staying for next season. To me there’s no number one within the club and I think that looks very good for next season.

I think the whole team played well, the backs kept the ball well; the forwards had a workmanlike performance. In the first half we threw about three tries away, there were players that went ball hunting and certain players were warned during the first half that I was going to take their heads off, because they were playing on their own and not with the team.

Second half those same players were outstanding because they played with the team. Every thing is team effort and out of that the stars are born. But you know it’s just one win and I’m not getting carried away at all.

What is pleasing is that Morne slotted in very well and that Ledowyk slotted in very well. Also there’s a massive improvement in our line out play. They really blew us away up front down there and in the backs, but today they never looked like going anywhere with us.

It was a good all round performance but we have to forget it quickly, because you tend to get carried away by these performances. I’ve already said to them, the toughest session of the year will be on Monday evening.”

“I think we played very well as a team, everyone slotted in perfectly and everyone did his job, no one had to do anybody else’s job, everybody just played awesome. After the last time we played them, the feeling we felt then and now it’s tremendous.

To play the full 80 minutes like that feels good; you just have to keep your legs pumping right to the very end. I don’t think they played that well today, but we just blasted them off the pitch. They didn’t get into the game because we didn’t allow that to happen.

Every time they set up a ball we just put them right back down and they never got over the gain line. That was the main thing I think, we just stopped them in their tracks and we didn’t allow them to play.

Last week we only played the first half and we slacked off in the second, but today coming out in the second half we kept on playing and that for the team was important and we kept our focus and kept going and never slacked off at any point.

We’ve got another big game next week away at Plymouth and we need to keep our heads down and keep our concentration and if we do, I think we’ll beat them down there. We just need to keep our focus.”

“I thought it was a really good performance from the whole team, the backs were outstanding as well as the forwards. We did everything that we needed to do, the basics and all the extras as well.

Playing in that game was a real pleasure; it was just one of those games that you want to play in. It’s a sign of just how far this team has come in such a short space of time. Coventry was good, but we didn’t play for the full 80 minutes, but this was the full 80 today.

Some people doubted our stamina against a fully professional outfit like the Pirates, but we showed today that we do have a fit bunch of boys here. We might not have the facilities of Pirates, but we’ve definitely got the character and the ability. There’s something else we’ve got in this team and that’s an amazing team spirit!

There’s not one person in there that dislikes each other and that goes along way on the pitch when you’ve got to back your mate up out there.”

Jim McKay

“Rotherham played very well, they had a lot of the ball and they used it very well. We got beaten in all areas of the game and we have a no excuse mentality at the club. And there are no excuses coming from us, we got fairly and squarely well and truly beaten by a better side on the day.

One basic principle in rugby is if you haven’t got the ball you are going to struggle, they had more of the ball and more of the momentum. But we are very disappointed that we couldn’t impose our game on them, but like I say full credit to them for what they did.

The primary source of possession, the set piece was difficult and we were on the back foot there and that’s where you start from. So from then on it was always going to be difficult.

Rotherham are a very good side and they played well, we just didn’t meet our personal standards today. I’m not blaming anyone, as a group collectively we’ll respond. We set out to do things today, but we didn’t achieve them at all.

We didn’t come into this game with any complacency, we’ve worked very hard for the last five weeks and this week we trained very hard, but if you don’t have the ball it’s pretty difficult. At the end of the day if you don’t have the ball it’s always going to be hard and like I say credit has to go to Rotherham.”

Page sponsored by xfactordates.com