Siya Kolisi said South African teams “deserve to be criticised” if they underperform in the Investec Champions Cup, but the Sharks skipper is convinced they can do better.
The Springbok talisman was speaking post-match on Sunday after the Sharks exited the prestigious EPCR competition with a crushing 66-12 defeat by Bordeaux Begles at Stade Chaban-Delmas in their final pool match.
France winger Damian Penaud scored six tries as Bordeaux stormed into the round of 16 as the top seeds in Pool 1, while the Sharks will now contest the EPCR Challenge Cup playoffs as defending champions.
The Sharks’ loss in the southwest of France relegated them to the Challenge Cup last 16 and concluded SA’s participation in the Champions Cup this season, the Vodacom Bulls and Stormers bowing out of the tournament on Saturday.
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The Bulls also qualified for the second-tier Challenge Cup playoffs while the Stormers had to await the outcome of Sunday’s clash between Sale Sharks and Toulon to learn their fate.
Kolisi was quizzed by the French media on Sunday as to how SA teams can become more competitive, especially away from home, while addressing criticism of their inclusion in the competition.
“We need to play well, we need to play better. There’s no excuses, we’re not going to make excuses about it,” he said. “It’s a great competition and we just started playing in it a couple of years ago. We’ll definitely get better.
“What I admire about the French teams is they’ve got a great amount of squad depth. Toulouse played a big game in the Top 14 against La Rochelle and they backed a young team to play against them and they lost by two points, and they brought [their strongest] team to South Africa [to face the Sharks] in a different competition.
“So we can’t make excuses and say, ‘it’s cold here’ or this is happening. You find ways to adapt and the more we play, the more we’ll understand how we can fit in both competitions [the Champions Cup and Vodacom URC].
“The biggest thing is making sure you create enough squad depth, and that’s one of the things we can learn from the French teams.”
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An impressive Hakeem Kunene try and seven points from Siya Masuku powered the Sharks into an early advantage, but a first-half hat-trick from Penaud and the boot of Matthieu Jalibert gave the home side a 19-12 half-time lead before the floodgates opened after the restart.
“If we don’t play well like this, of course we’re going to be criticised, we’re going to be criticised by our own people and we deserve to be criticised,” Kolisi added.
“If you play well you get the credit , if you play badly you take the criticism as well. You can’t make excuses, it’s life, it is what it is. Unfortunately our job is based on results, and if we don’t get the results we get criticised.
“We know we’re not proud of that performance; Bordeaux played really well but we could’ve done better as a team as well.
“If the criticism comes it is what it is, and we’re going to have to make sure that if we get another opportunity to play we’ll be better.”
Photo: Romain Perrocheau/AFP
