Toyota Cheetahs coach Izak van der Westhuizen said injuries forced them to use the replacements a lot earlier than planned following several injuries in the first half in their 10-26 loss on Saturday against Cardiff Rugby.
“We had a good first half. We just failed to convert all the opportunities we created into points."
"We had a lot of bad luck with injuries early on in the first half, which forced us to play our guys off the bench a lot earlier than we wanted to."
"Then in the second half, I think we just gave away too many penalties because we became desperate to get the ball back at times. And because we had to play our guys early in the first half, we didn't have that much power off the bench in the second half."
“But I think there was a massive effort from everyone that played, I think the guys tried hard,” the coach added.
"But I think there was a massive effort from everyone who played."
"I think the guys really tried hard. I think you can just see the difference between teams that play week in and week out at this level."
The Cheetahs will travel on the 12th of January to face Zebre at the NRCA Stadium in Amsterdam, Netherlands.