Coach laments errors
By Daire Walsh
IN the wake of his side’s defeat in the Leinster Schools’ Senior Cup decider at the RDS on Sunday afternoon, Cistercian College Roscrea coach Pieter Swanepoel admitted that they made too many errors against eventual winners Belvedere College.
For their north Dublin counterparts, this was revenge for their 18-11 reversal at the hands of the school from the Offaly-Tipperary border 12 months ago, and Swanepoel accepted that Roscred had to be gracious in defeat.
“Yeah, listen we’ve made too many errors. We didn’t hold onto the ball. Everything went for them, and sure, we’ve got to be gracious in defeat,” Swanepoel remarked after the game.
Tries from Hugh O’Sullivan and Max Kearney helped the Metropolitan outfit to develop a 14-0 interval lead, but Roscrea also had some good opportunities in the opening half – and Swanepoel felt that they would have been in with a real shout if they had managed to cross the Belvo whitewash before the break.
“We were really hoping to score before half-time. If we had scored before half-time, we would have been in there. I don’t think we were out of it at half-time at all. I don’t think we’ve played particularly well, but we still had a big hope for the second half.”
Following another exceptional campaign, Roscrea now find themselves in an identical position to the one Belvedere were in on St Patrick’s Day 2015. Swanepoel acknowledged that it was a tough place for his charges to be in, but once again praised the performance of their opponents on the day.
Swanepoel said: “It’s bad for the boys there. Harsh on them, but at the same time, Belvedere were exactly where we are now last year, and congratulations to Belvedere.
“They’re a decent team. Decent is not the right word, they’re a superb team. The backs especially. Once they got behind us, there was no catching them. They’re just a class outfit.”
Swanepoel also revealed that several players from this year’s panel will return in 2017, and the CCR supremo is hopeful that they can use this set-back as a stepping stone towards regaining a senior title.
“We’ll probably keep about six, seven guys. Maybe half of those on the panel as well for next year. We’ve got to use this, and just know how much this hurt. To work as hard to get here, and then not to perform on the day, and use it as a stepping stone again.”