Alarmed EP coach Peter de Villiers has rushed to the defence of his players after a spate of red and yellow cards tarnished the Elephants’ disciplinary record ahead of Sunday's clash against the Cheetahs.
A frustrated De Villiers also hit out at referees, describing their display as below par during his team’s opening three Preparation Series matches against the Bulls, Lions and Griquas.
EP's disciplinary record will again come under scrutiny in what is expected to be a bone-crunching clash at the Free State Stadium.
In their match against the Lions, EP were reduced to 14 men after only two minutes when loose forward Arnold Kleyn was red-carded for a dangerous tackle.
There was more pain for EP after 52 minutes when CJ Velleman also received his marching orders.
Poor discipline let EP down again in their third match and they had to play much of the second half with 14 men after Riaan Arends was red-carded for standing on a Griquas player.
EP made a stuttering start against Griquas when referee Cwengile Jadezweni awarded a penalty try against them for infringing during a driving maul close to their try line in the second minute.
To aggravate matters further for the home side, loose forward Zingisa April was yellow-carded for the offence.
“If you can’t get to where you should be then frustration sets in,” De Villiers said.
“Then you are not level-headed in your decision making.
“Suddenly you do things that are not within the law.”
“If you look at the first yellow card we received against Griquas I don’t think it should have been a yellow card.
“I think there should have been a warning first.
“It's the first time that I've seen this in rugby. This shows me that referees come with a preconceived mindset.
“So these are the things I have to live with until we play ourselves out of this hole.
“The quality of refereeing is way below par.
“It was not only the referee we had against Griquas who was below par.
“It was over all three games.”
De Villiers had strong views on Arends’ red card which he strongly disputed.
“If you look at the footage and you don’t look at the incident itself then it was poor discipline.
“But if you look at how the Griquas player pulled Arends down. He lost his balance and where else could he have put his knees?
“If you look at in context you will see it was this guy on the ground who provoked everything.
“Arends wanted to step over the guy, but because he pulled him down, Arends lost his balance.”
Ahead of the Griquas clash, EP skipper Courtney Winnaaar emphasised the need for improved discipline.
“EP have been talking about discipline — it is one of the major topics for the team,” he said.
De Villiers said the Preparation Series had enabled him to get a much better understanding about what was required to get EP to the next level.
“The big thing in my favour at this stage is that I understand who I have in my squad. Now I know who will make the step up and who won’t.”
HeraldLIVE
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.