Elephants must do away with losing habit, coach says

EP must kick their losing habit into touch when they play warm-up games ahead of an expected debut in the mooted eight-team Franchise Cup, Elephants coach Peter de Villiers said.

The Franchise Cup could take the place of the 14-team SA Cup which is set to be canned after a spike in Covid-19 infections and the high cost of regular testing to ensure squads are virus free.

The new one-off tournament could be contested between the Elephants, Bulls, Lions, Stormers, Sharks, Cheetahs, Griquas and Pumas. It is expected to kick off on February 27.

Asked if he would like his team to play several tough warm-ups, De Villiers said: “Can’t we take away the word tough? Can’t we just say warm-up? 

“What we need to establish at EP  is a winning culture. At this stage they really didn’t too badly as a team, but they got used to losing.

“So maybe we will not play tough teams in warm-ups. If  we play against club teams and give them a  nice hiding and we feel good about ourselves.

“Suddenly you feel afterwards that winning feeling. So we need to change that  habit of losing and turn it  into a habit of winning.”

De Villiers has promised a spruced up EP team will play total rugby and be empowered to make decisions.

“When I was appointed Springbok coach I said we would play total rugby,” he said.

“Then the media went wild because they did not understand what I meant by total rugby. But nobody asked me and they were writing their own kind of things.

“I am still maintaining the fact that we (EP) will be playing total rugby. We are not going to run every damn ball. You earn the right to run the ball.

“We will not kick everything and we will understand why to kick the ball and where we kick and why we kick.

“The players will be equipped  and I will give them the authority to make their own decisions on the field.”

Well-placed sources said EP were given support at a meeting of SA's unions on Wednesday where decisions were taken about which teams would play in the mooted tournament.

Though SA Rugby have not made an official announcement, it is believed they will make a statement on Monday confirming who will play in the competition.

EP Rugby officials were tight-lipped when approached for comment about their team's expected elevation to the top table of SA Rugby.

“It would be premature to speculate about this and an announcement will be made at the appropriate time,” EP president Andre Rademan said. "At this stage negotiations are still ongoing.”

EP GM Thando Manana could not be reached for comment.

A slimmed down 39-man EP preliminary training squad has been named as the Elephants ramp up pre-season preparations

The group is not final and new additions are expected and Border players could feature among additional recruits.

Originally EP named a 60-man squad, but 21 of the original players have fallen by the wayside.

Former Kings players in the squad are Schalk Ferreira, Courtney Winnaar, Christopher Hollis, Josiah Boafo, Robin Stevens and Josh Alderman.

Former Sharks flyhalf Inny Radebe is also training with the Elephants. De Villiers wants the talented pivot to run his backline.

Radebe, who fell down the pecking order at the Sharks after a knee injury, is on the comeback trail and joined EP on a one-week trial.

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