SA Select Women suffer disappointing defeat

Oct 19 • General News • 1345 Views • Comments Off on SA Select Women suffer disappointing defeat

SA Select Women’s coach Eddie Myners was disappointed with his team’s 47-12 defeat against the England Academy team in their second tour match in Aldershot, England, on Wednesday and said they were determined to finish the tour strongly on Sunday.

Myners’ charges delivered a strong first-half performance, despite lock Amy-Kay Klaasen receiving a yellow card, as flanker Rights Mkhari and No 8 Aseza Hele crossed the tryline, while flyhalf Kirsten Conrad added a conversion to match the hosts’ 12 points going into the break.

England Academy, however, came out strongly in the second half as they applied constant pressure on attack, which saw the visitors’ defend for most of the half. The hosts were also effective at rounding off their point-scoring chances and this paid off with five second-half tries, which took their tally for match to seven.

“We knew from the outset that this match would be much tougher than the clash against the British Army, and although we are very disappointed about the defeat, we learned a lot and there were a few positives we could take from the clash,” said Myners.

“We delivered a solid first-half performance, and even though the opposition dominated the second half, our players kept on fighting and never gave up.

“We have a lot of work to do before our last match, but fortunately we have a few days to improve on the areas of our game that let us down.”

The sides will meet again on Sunday in what marks the SA Select Women’s final tour match, with the team set to return to South Africa on Monday.