These things happen in this age bracket and we need time to get it sorted out. |
They (the Sharks) are probably the toughest South African side at the moment, so it won't be easy. |
They are very motivated to improve the perception that people have developed of them. |
They knocked us around. They put a lot of pressure on. They played us in our half. It's very hard to start running the ball from your own half. |
They'll be putting their heads together and working out how our lineout is going to go next year. Now that Harrison has gone it will be up to those two to get it right. It was one of our strengths last season and I'm hoping it will be again next year. |
They're still going, that middle tier, you can't hold them. The money is too good in the UK. We need to find ways to counter that financially. |
They're using him for a campaign, which I find amusing because he's obviously not there and that's the best they can come up with. I'd prefer Wendell to be focused on what we're doing and have spoken to him about letting Queensland do what they want to do. |
They've got a very good tactical appreciation of the kicking game, they can play with width and I thought their mauling game (last week) was outstanding. |
This is going tough match, make no mistake about that, so we'll need to be switched on from the opening whistle. |
Up front they've put in their biggest props, so that gives some indication of where they want to go. I was actually starting to feel a bit younger because I remember playing against Marius Hurter back around the [1995] World Cup. So he's obviously a very experienced campaigner, and they're probably going to take us on up front. |
We are hopeful, but it's now out of our hands. |
We certainly went better this time than last time. And the Crusaders were playing with all but two of last year's [Super 12 final] team on the field. We had five new faces out there and we were reeling them in. [But] whether that will be enough on another occasion [later in the year], I don't know. |
We didn't have the advantage of legal brains in Cape Town. |
We don't care whether it is hostile or whatever, it doesn't matter to us, we are happy to get in there and get in the mood for the match. |
We felt there was too much fixation, internally and externally, on the numbers the players had on their backs. The players shouldn't be inhibited by their run-on number. Psychologically it's already working wonders. |