East Rand United coach lauds his team’s great win
Eighth man Calvin Jantjies and speedster Leon Potgieter are still struggling with injury and according to Nel, the former might be available for the final showdown against Springs while the latter’s availability is unclear.
East Rand United coach Stephan Nel says he didn’t want to ‘even look’ during the dying minutes of his side’s Valke Peregrine League semi-final clash against Vereeniging over the weekend.
Following dominant performances in large parts of the campaign which has seen United finish a close second to log winners Springs, it all seemed to be falling apart in the second last hurdle for Nel’s men as the visitors led towards the end.
However, a late dramatic try from star scrum half Tiaan Ramat saved his team’s blushes in their 26-25 win – with United so confident, they had released a new jersey for the semis and final before a ball was kicked.
“To tell you the truth, I didn’t even see the last five minutes,” admitted the coach.
“I was running away already,” he joked.
With the tight affair level at 10-all at half-time, the trainer said he had to pull out all the stops.
“The half-time talk was a bit different from usual ones. It involved a bit of strong language but I basically told the guys to start playing and get it together. Even some of the fans came up to me to tell me how they could hear me shout.”
Nel and the rest of United’s coaching staff’s masterstroke of making second-half tactical and timely substitutions also played an important role towards the important win.
When explaining the moves, the mentor continued: “Kevin (Plaatjies) is good, but he was under pressure and I needed a more experienced player there,” alluding to shifting incumbent number nine Tiaan Ramat from the left wing back to scrum half.
“I then moved JP (Fleming) to the wing and put Jacques van Tonder in place of Brandon Snyman at lock.”
The other substitutions saw hooker Andre Myburgh and Dirk van Wyk make their way into the front row. Elsewhere, Jaco Herselman replaced flank Piet Mnguni.
“I sent Andre (Myburgh) and Dirk (van Wyk) to settle the scrums. Jaco (Herselman) and JP (Fleming) are good impact players.
“When André is in the ruck, I wouldn’t want to be in there.”
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