Dear Ed, sadness prevails after our loss to Ireland. By that, I mean they did not defeat us; we simply lost it ourselves. Like the Scotland game, 11 points went astray for want of an accomplished kicker, as also, in this case, poor decision-making.
The old saying, “once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is war”, points to a want in captaincy. The number of times we could have put ourselves in to try scoring positions by line-out/ corner flag kicks instead of opting for hopeless efforts at the poles is almost unconscionable, especially Faf’s gesture by attempting a shot at the poles from inside our half!
After Kolisi went off, our standard of leadership seemed to wither and return to the old standard of trying to win a game by 12-man rugby.
But all is not lost. Let this letter reach Rassie and co to have the new scintillating back-line play return (with a suitable kicker) to our next games.
* Werner Ehlers, Pietermaritzburg.
* The views expressed are not necessarily the views of IOL or Independent Media.
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