Lions coach Mzwakhe Nkosi feels that some of the Lions’ youthful exuberance showed in the ‘silly’ penalties the home side conceded in Saturday afternoon’s 40-19 bonus-point Currie Cup win over Western Province at Ellis Park.
“Our youth is showing a little bit. We did one or two immature things. We conceded a yellow card, struggled with discipline issues that challenged us a little bit, and that broke the rhythm of the game. But I thought we were better in the second half,” the coach said at a post-match media briefing.
“It’s not big fixes – Jarod Cairns putting his hands in the ruck once or twice for too long for (referee) Christopher Allison’s liking, then not rolling away, entering around the maul and we were offside around the edge. These are really easy fixes, not liking conceding scrum penalties or getting mauled.
“But again, I think we’ve just to get to each other and each and every guy has got to take responsibility for the stuff that they’ve got to do – getting onside, rolling away if the contest for the ball is gone.
So ,I’m happy. Jarod is actually quite a good player at that, I think he adds a bit of cover to the defensive breakdown.”
The breakdown area was one aspect of the Lions play the coach had singled out for improvement after the victory over the Sharks on the opening weekend of the competition.
“Our breakdown was a whole lot batter and, in fact, at times it was too quick for our own liking, but beggars can’t be choosers,” the Lions Currie Cup mentor said.
And what about areas for further improvement?
“The biggest challenge was the silly penalties we gave away. We just allowed them free entries into our 22, so if we sharpen up there we’ll be a whole lot better team and we’ll ask more questions,” Nkosi reiterated.
“Then we entered their 22 about five times in the first half and didn’t convert one, and will probably have to look at that and the patience (needed) and sort of keep out wits about ourselves.”
The Lions outscored the visitors by six tries to three, but had to dig in the second half when the Cape side pulled within nine points. Lions skipper Jaco Visagie grabbed a well-deserved brace in a match where both sides employed the rolling maul to good effect.
The Lions had led 21-12 at half-time.
Province coach Labeeb Levy was happy with his side’s performance, especially in the set-piece, despite the defeat. It was an area the Bulls had exposed in their opening round match.
“I think our own line-outs were better, created good shape for us in our game, so we are happy with that. Of the scrums, there was only the one scrum which we conceded, which cost us,” Levy said.
“But that’s how it goes in rugby. We had some good scrums and good platforms for us to attack from … and we just need to maintain it.”
Next up for the Lions is an away clash against the Boland Kavaliers while Province will face Griquas away.
