New Kandy SC head coach Adrian Ferris says he will take one game at a time as the former champions seek to carve an unlikely path to regain the inter-club rugby title after suffering two losses in the first-round.
In an interview, New Zealander Ferris – former head coach of Northland ITM Cup said that it was not surprising to see Kandy SC being upstaged by Navy SC and Havelocks given the equal strength of the major teams in the fray this year.
But, he asserted that though Kandy SC had not been far off in their game against Navy, he agreed that the team from Nittawela had only themselves to blame for letting the Havies off the hook after being in the ascendency.
“Naturally the number of teams in the cup segment ahead of the second round makes it more absorbing,” Ferris who took over from former coach Neil Foote, said.
“No doubt, it is going to be a challenge for Kandy to regain the cup this year, but then again having to play the second round with no pressure on us, could also play to our advantage. We intend to take it game by game.
“Do not forget for a minute, that both Navy and Havelocks have to win both their ties against us, hence the pressure is going to be on them rather than on us. So let us keep our fingers crossed to see how it plans out.”
The New Zealander who was the technical advisor of the KSC before being promoted as head coach also stated that what the Nittawela club needs to do is to stay focused and replicate the hard work put in at practices on a given day and the result will take care of itself.
Asked whether he was under pressure to produce the goods from the unforgiving Kandy crowd, the former New Zealand U-20 selector and assistant coach of the Tongan Sevens team was philosophical.
He said it was not unusual to see fan apathy in the wake of two defeats, considering the unprecedented success Kandy had enjoyed during the past decade and a half as undisputed domestic club rugby champs.
But, Ferris – who was also a part of the Fiji team management for the 2011 Rugby World Cup (RWC), opined that a setback also could be termed as a serious wake-up call and maintained that the onus was on the team to respond in the best possible way.
The Kandy SC coach refused to single out players who had stood out for his club this year insisting that in a team sport as rugby, the contributions of all 15 players on the park results in a touchdown.
However, the Kiwi coach who is also a Level 3 certified coach and an accredited and qualified IRB coach cum educator said that their opponents could write off Kandy SC as a serious challenger in the second-round to their peril and urged their supporters not to lose faith in Roshan Weeraratne’s men.
