JOHANNESBURG – With their play-off ambitions now hanging in the balance, the Lions conceded they need to improve if they are to compete with the top sides in the Super Rugby competition.
The Lions went down 30-20 to the Brumbies at Ellis Park on Saturday to leave the Johannesburg outfit eighth on the overall log and third on the SA conference.
For the second week in a row the Lions trailed by over 15 points at half-time and on this occasion against the second-placed Brumbies the fightback of the men in red was to a great extent nullified.
The Lions had spoken about starting well in the days leading up to the clash, and after the loss captain Warren Whiteley was left dejected.
“It was just too many errors. They were devastating on turnover ball,” said Whiteley.
“I knocked that ball on in the first half and they scored from there. Once again we were just not consistent through the 80 minutes.”
The Lions were especially poor at the breakdown with the forwards often absent to protect the ball, and the Brumbies were ruthless as they snapped up possession with aplomb.
Whiteley said his charges had no choice but to up their game if they wanted to make the playoffs.
“We fought back well towards the end of the second half, but that’s just not good enough to make the playoffs of this competition.
“We need to be more consistent.”
Following their one point loss to the Stormers last week in Cape Town, the victory against the Lions was made even sweeter said Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham.
“We feel a thousand times better than last week,” Larkham said.
“I thought the boys played really well particularly in that first half, our defence was solid and we created quite a few turnovers and managed to score those three tries.”
The Brumbies knew the Lions would come back hard in the second stanza, and Larkham was pleased with the way his side handled the pressure.
“In the second half we did a lot of defending and I think the altitude probably got to us a bit, but the boys dug deep and we got the exact result we were after in the end.” – ANA