Pirates coach Ouaddou defends team selection after City win

Orlando Pirates head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou has defended his decision to field a strong team for the game against Durban City which the Buccaneers won 2-1 after extra-time.

Ouaddou was expected to rotate his squad for the cup competition, but the Moroccan mentor decided to field his regular players from last season.

Speaking after the game, Ouaddou insisted that there are strong expectations from the club’s management and fans to bring home silverware, so only players deserving to start will be picked.

“No, no, me. I’m not here to give flowers to people. We are not in the circus. We are in a professional ecosystem,” said Ouaddou.

“There are a lot of expectations. If you want me to remind you of my two first games last season, you feel that I was happy to have eight bodyguards around me?

“I want to win, of course I’m gonna play the strongest team because the fans want to win this competition, the club wants to win it as well and I want to win it as well and it won’t be easy,” continued Ouaddou.

“I want to win it as well. So, I need to put a strong team, and the players who deserve to play because they show in training, they show in the preparation. catcrossgame.com

“There is nothing guaranteed, and it’s how we push the players to have competition.

“But I’m not here to give flowers, because when you lose two or three games, who is in the headlines?” concluded the Moroccan.

The former Proteas quick questioned how South Africa handled the semi-final defeat that ended their campaign in Auckland.

Dale Steyn has revealed that he smashed up his hotel room after South Africa’s painful 2015 World Cup semi-final defeat to New Zealand.

The Proteas appeared on course for their first final before rain interrupted their innings in Auckland. Grant Elliott then struck Steyn for six to complete New Zealand’s chase and bring another promising South African campaign to an abrupt end.

READ: Steyn’s greatest fast-bowling hits

Speaking on Beyond the Boundary with Vernon Philander, Steyn recalled the immediate disappointment as the ball cleared the rope. Elliott helped the fast bowler back to his feet before Steyn turned his attention to his devastated teammates.

“Then the next thing that came into my mind was when I looked around, I could see in everyone’s faces that they were heartbroken,” Steyn said.

“Put a smile on your face, shake the hands of the opposition, appreciate this cricket game that’s just happened, walk into the dressing room and make sure that you do not show any emotion.”

Steyn felt a responsibility to set an example for younger players such as Quinton de Kock and David Miller. He congratulated the New Zealand players and attempted to lift the mood inside the dressing room before releasing his anger in private.

“I got into my room and I think I broke my room down,” Steyn said. “I was so angry. That’s where the emotion really came out.”

The defeat continued to trouble Steyn because he felt the squad never discussed it properly. When the players next assembled, their preparations moved directly towards another series.

ALSO: The Test season South African cricket has waited for

“I was sitting there and I was like, are we not going to talk about the elephant in the room?” he said.

“I think I got a little bit bitter. I was a little bit sour about it for a while. We just lost another World Cup, and it should be a big deal. We just moved on, and that’s not how I think you should deal with it.”

South Africa have since ended their long wait for a senior ICC title by winning the World Test Championship. White-ball success, however, remains out of reach.

Steyn welcomed the Test breakthrough but remains unsure whether the Proteas have improved the way they process the disappointment of major tournament defeats.

Photo: Hannah Peters/Getty Images

The post Steyn smashed hotel room after World Cup heartbreak appeared first on SA Cricket Mag.

Junior Springbok and SA A sensations Luan Giliomee and Zekhethelo Siyaya have been “phenomenal” in the way they have played, and they have incredible futures ahead of them if they keep it up, said Springbok fullback Aphelele Fassi.

The teenage utility backs enjoyed a prodigious debut season in the Sharks senior side after Fassi and their fellow Junior Bok teammate Jaco Williams suffered injuries.

Nineteen-year-old Giliomee, who was once used by the Blitzboks, and Siyaya, 18, lit up the Sharks’ backline. They each scored a try despite only playing two and four games, respectively, in the United Rugby Championship.

SA A and Junior Bok stars

They were both selected to play for SA A in the young side’s 40-0 whitewash of Zimbabwe in June.

Giliomee played well there and moved from fullback to flyhalf after Yaqeen Ahmed’s red card.

Siyaya, at wing, almost scored three times before going off for a concussion.

Springbok assistant coach Mzwandile Stick heaped praise on the players for their performances.

Unfortunately, Siyaya’s injury saw him miss the U20 World Championship in Georgia, though Giliomee was instrumental in helping South Africa successfully defend the title.

While injured, Siyaya had time to tell The Citizen about his dreams of playing for the Springboks, and how consistently turning in performances at the Sharks would help him get there.

Giliomee has since made his Currie Cup debut for the Durban union, and with Fassi moving to Brave Lupus Tokyo, he, Siyaya and Williams are set to drive the Sharks’ success in the URC after another disappointing season last year.

Williams already earned a debut appearance for the Springboks, scoring a try against Wales in the Nations Championship. One feels it is only a matter of time before Giliomee and Siyaya get called up, too.

Fassi: Two youngsters could adapt to top level

“I think the two have a massive future ahead of them,” said Fassi, who by comparison played his 18th Test against Argentina in Buenos Aires on Saturday, which the Springboks won 17-10.

“To be honest, I probably didn’t play the role that I wanted to [in mentoring them]. I was focusing on my injury.

“But while doing that, I had a few chats and time with them. Whatever questions they had, I answered. But I think the way that they’re playing is phenomenal. I think you saw in the SAA game that they played.”

He said Giliomee was excellent at the U20 World Championships, and Siyaya has been a major attacking threat since his Sharks debut.

“I think they learn fast and could adapt and execute the way that they want to at the top level.”

Fifa on Saturday condemned “a concerted and ongoing effort by some to undermine” the world game’s governing body and its president Gianni Infantino as the controversy over his now shelved private investment plan rumbles on.

Infantino has faced calls to resign and was also subject to allegations from a British newspaper on Friday that he paid off a lover while at European governing body Uefa.

“Recent reporting has included unsubstantiated assertions and demonstrably false claims concerning Fifa and its president,” said the Fifa statement.

Infantino served as secretary general of European football’s governing body from 2009 to 2016.

According to The Telegraph newspaper, the Italian-Swiss lawyer previously used his influence to secure a promotion for a Uefa employee with whom he was in an intimate relationship.

The newspaper added – without revealing its sources – that the same employee received a “six-figure sum” upon her departure in addition to the payment of tuition fees for a business school amounting to around £45 000 ($60 700).

When contacted by AFP, Uefa acknowledged that “a departure payment was made to the individual in question” at that time, “coupled with the payment of fees for an MBA course at a local business school”.

Growing pressure

In Saturday’s statement on social media, Fifa insisted it “welcomes legitimate scrutiny”.

“But scrutiny is not a licence to distort facts, amplify unsubstantiated allegations or manufacture distractions designed to undermine progress. Where reporting is inaccurate or misleading, Fifa will challenge it directly and vigorously,” it added.

Infantino, who is standing for re-election next March, has been embroiled in a crisis since the announcement late last month of his controversial – and ultimately abandoned – plan to open up the World Cup to private investors.

He faces opposition in particular from Uefa, which on Thursday stood by its threat to boycott the World Cups, deeming the mere withdrawal of the controversial plan to be insufficient.

Fifa said on Saturday it “will not support, facilitate or tolerate any process concerning the election of the Fifa president that is inconsistent with Fifa’s statutes, democratic procedures and established governance framework”.

The statement added: “Those who do not have the support of Fifa’s member associations should not seek to achieve through allegation, insinuation or misinformation what they cannot achieve through Fifa’s established democratic processes.”

Rassie Erasmus praised Eben Etzebeth after the veteran lock produced a commanding 80-minute performance in the Springboks’ 17-10 win against Argentina in Buenos Aires on Saturday.

Etzebeth made his first appearance for the Boks since last November, extending his national record to 142 Test caps.

The 34-year-old was one of seven Springboks returning from injuries or niggles against Los Pumas.

The highlight of Etzebeth’s effort was a thunderous tackle on Argentina centre Faustino Sánchez Valarolo.

“Eben Etzebeth going 80. I thought we saw the old Eben again in the game,” Erasmus said. “He was physical, he carried well. He defended well.”

Erasmus was also encouraged by what he saw from Etzebeth’s second-row partner Lood de Jager, despite the veteran lock understandably tiring on his return to Test rugby.

“Lood de Jager was really physical in the first 25-30 minutes when he was relatively fresh, and then obviously the pace of the game got to him because he hasn’t played in almost a year.”

MORE: Erasmus sheds light on crocked Siya

Captain Siya Kolisi also made his comeback, leaving the field after 24 minutes with a hamstring injury.

“I thought Siya was really dynamic with his carries and his clean-outs,” said Erasmus.

There was valuable game time, too, for flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and scrumhalf Morné van den Berg.

“Sacha was obviously playing back for the first time in a very long time and he wasn’t very accurate, you could see he got tired,” Erasmus said.

“Then obviously Krappie [Van den Berg] … it was very blustery and very windy so it was difficult to control the box-kicks.”

ALSO: Rassie lauds ‘leg-weary’ Boks

Erasmus added that utility backs Canan Moodie and Ethan Hooker had also made encouraging returns.

“I thought Canan Moodie came through well, Ethan Hooker also came through well after being out for a while.”

Photo: Juan Jose Gasparini/Gallo Images

The post Rassie: We saw the old Eben again appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.