ALAN LORIMER, Edinburgh | Wednesday 10.00am.
SPRINGBOK assistant coach Alan Solomons admitted on Tuesday there had been a number of flaws in the defending champion’s opening World Cup game against Scotland.
”There are areas for improvement. We made a lot of mistakes and were punished for them. Our second phase ball was not of a good quality in terms of presentation,” he said.
”I thought the Scots were good in this area.”
Solomons sympathised with Scotland over the small pool of players they had to select from and said they should cast their net wider and look to people of Scottish descent in other countries.
”They have a limited number of players to choose from. Scotland is not a big country and here rugby has to play second fiddle to soccer. Here it’s a real battle to find rugby on television.”
He commended Scotland for recruiting the New Zealand-born brothers John and Martin Leslie who both made their international debuts last year and played against South Africa on Sunday. But he said they should look for more.
”Just as (coach) Graham Henry has said that he’ll play anyone who is eligible for Wales, Scotland should do the same. There are plenty of guys throughout the southern hemisphere with Scottish ancestry. Just look at South Island in New Zealand and you’ll find plenty Scots descendants,” said Solomons.
On South Africa’s next World Cup match against Spain on Sunday, Solomons insisted his side were not treating it as a meaningless exercise.
”If you look back to the 1995 World Cup New Zealand were in this situation when they faced Japan but they concentrated on putting on a quality performance and that is why they won by such a huge margin. Skills have got to be good in the World Cup.
”The players are keen to do well and focus on the quality of their own play,” he said. — Reuters