Peregrine League U-21 final: What the coaches thought

Here are the thoughts of the coaches:

Stephen Nel (East Rand United tutor)

I’m happy for my team, they played really well. They [Vereeniging] played well, they tackled and defended well, especially in the first-half and they limited our chances, but the fitness of my players came through in the second-half.

I told the boys during half-time that they have 40 minutes to show who they are and what they’re made of. I told them to go out there and play ball and go back to basics.

Jacky [Jonkers] was solid in defence, winning a few turnovers on the ground.

I think every time he carried the ball Vereeniging didn’t know what to do. He had a huge impact and I can only thank him for such a great performance.

Desmond Lamont (Vereeniging trainer)

We lost a very important player in our prop, Broge Ré, who lost his two front teeth and suffered a cut in the mouth. His loss was a big loss, because he led our forward pack when we dominated during the period where we came back and took a four-point half-time lead.

But you can’t pin the reason for the loss on one player. They [United] took their opportunities and we couldn’t play our game plan because we didn’t have the ball.

You can’t play without the ball. Their fly-half, Jeandre Lucas, had a very good game; he scored a phenomenal try. They outclassed us.

READ: East Rand United juniors win Peregrine League