{"id":60767,"date":"2024-11-11T12:12:04","date_gmt":"2024-11-11T10:12:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=60767"},"modified":"2024-11-11T12:12:04","modified_gmt":"2024-11-11T10:12:04","slug":"coach-justin-collins-reflects-on-sa-u17s-dato-mirnawan-cup-performances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=60767","title":{"rendered":"Coach Justin Collins reflects on SA u17’s Dato Mirnawan Cup performances"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The
Playing in the heat and humidity of Kuala Lumpur, the SA u17 boys team suffered two defeats at the Dato Mirnawan Cup, both to the eventual finalists. Photo: National Hockey Development Programme Malaysia.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The South African u17 boys’ hockey team<\/a> <\/strong>will, unfortunately, feel a sense of let-down after a fifth-place finish at the Dato Mirnawan Cup<\/strong>, which concluded on Sunday in Kuala Lumpur<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Malaysia<\/strong> claimed gold in the boys’ section, beating South Korea<\/strong> 3-2 in the final, while Japan<\/strong> defeated Australia<\/strong>, also by a 3-2 margin, to win the girls’ title.<\/p>\n

While results didn’t go the way the South African team would have hoped, they will, nonetheless, take away valuable lessons from the experience.<\/p>\n

In last year’s tournament, South Africa finished as the runner-up after losing 3-4 to India in the title decider<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0In 2024, only Reece Theunis<\/a>, <\/strong>the captain, remained from the 2023 side.<\/p>\n

It all began swimmingly for Theunis and company, who got their challenge off to a scorching start by overwhelming Canada<\/strong> 9-1 in their opening match.<\/p>\n

The competition stiffened quickly, though, with the Malaysia Tigers<\/strong> beating South Africa 3-1 in their second outing. Then, after a tremendous tussle and a gutsy fightback, the South Africans went down 3-4 against South Korea.<\/p>\n

In the playoffs, for fifth to eighth places, South Africa played some smart hockey to claim a sweet 3-2 victory over Australia.<\/p>\n

That win put Justin Collins’ charges into the playoff for fifth against Canada, the team they had so handsomely beaten in their first match of the tournament.<\/p>\n

Once more, it was South Africa’s day.\u00a0They slotted five goals, kept a clean sheet, and ended their tournament on a high.<\/p>\n

\"SA
SA u17 head coach Justin Collins took charge of the national team in Malaysia for a second year in succession. Photo: National Hockey Development Programme Malaysia<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Reflecting on the event, head coach Justin Collins<\/strong> said he was pleased with his team’s fighting spirit, which never faltered despite the side losing two of their three group matches, both of which came against the eventual finalists.<\/p>\n

“I am very proud of the boys and the character they showed. We were never out of the contest in any game during the week,” he told SuperSport Schools Plus<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

“We just had small moments that we slipped up, and this has created even more of a learning environment for our boys.<\/p>\n

“We always knew we had to fight, but the two losses in the pool stages created an inner drive for the team and the staff.”<\/p>\n

In both of their group losses, the margin between winning and losing was razor-thin. Slight lapses of concentration cost South Africa victory. Collins lamented those moments and said he believes his side could’ve done better.<\/p>\n

“It was disappointing sitting and watching the final,” he admitted, “especially because both these teams were in our pool.<\/p>\n

“We were so close against South Korea, losing 3-4 after showing lots of character and fighting back from 1-3 down to go 3-3, then to lose in the dying moments.<\/p>\n

“Malaysia won the tournament after we ran them close. We weren’t good in the first half of that game, but showed fight, again.”<\/p>\n

For the majority of the South African players, it was a case of one, and done. They’ll be moving on to older age groups, but several players, who are currently 16 years old, will be keen to stake a claim to a seat on the plane to next year’s Dato Mirnawan Cup.<\/p>\n

\"Juan
Juan Martin in action for South Africa during the Dato Mirnawan Cup. Photo: National Hockey Development Programme Malaysia<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“There were, definitely, some players that put up their hands up this week and stood up when needed,” Collins said.<\/p>\n

“It’s always great winning games, and I truly believe our school structure is creating an incredible base for players to develop,” he added.<\/p>\n

“We have top coaches around the country based at different schools. We just need to play better hockey for longer phases and be braver in difficult situations.<\/p>\n

“Our defensive systems need some care and more work needs to be done across the board in terms of our angles of engagement and tracking of runners,” he concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The South African u17 boys’ hockey team will, unfortunately, feel a sense of let-down after a fifth-place finish at the Dato Mirnawan Cup, which concluded on Sunday in Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia claimed gold in the boys’ section, beating South Korea 3-2 in the final, while Japan defeated Australia, also by a 3-2 margin, to win […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":60769,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=60767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60767\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=60767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=60767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=60767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}