“WE’LL bounce back. I know in my heart we’re a better team than we were last year.”
Those are the words of Lions captain Warren Whiteley following his team’s disappointing start to the 2015 Super Rugby season. The Lions enjoyed the majority of possession against the Hurricanes at Ellis Park on Friday night, yet they came undone, losing 22-8 first-up.
The statistics from the game will show Johan Ackermann’s men dominated the contest, but the Lions’ inability to convert their dominance into points cost them dearly after 80 minutes. One of the major problems was the goal-kicking.
Springbok flyhalf Marnitz Boshoff, such a prolific points-scorer last year, struggled with his kicking on Friday missing three kicks at goal – including two penalties inside 10 minutes which could have changed the whole direction of the game. Elton Jantjies also missed the conversion of Ruan Combrinck’s try.
Ackermann said every kicker struggled at some stage of his career. “Marnitz has shown the potential to be a match-winner before and we simply have to keep backing him,” explained Ackermann.
“I’ve played with top Boks in my career and I’ve seen them also go through patches ... when they’re off the boil. Marnitz will be back; I believe in his potential.”
Ackermann added he’d review the flyhalf situation this week, saying it was a long season and Boshoff and Jantjies would both get their opportunities in 2015.
But it wasn’t only the goal-kicking that cost the Lions. Their biggest issue on Friday was their failure to turn good field position and all the possession they enjoyed into points.
Whiteley said his team needed to show more patience with ball in hand. “We worked so hard to get into the right positions on the field, the opportunities were there, but we didn’t convert. That’s the frustrating thing. I think we need to show more patience when we’re in the opposition 22m area. Yes, maybe we were too expansive when we should have been more direct. We need to be more balanced, but we’ll work on it and we’ll bounce back.”
Ackermann, though, was fairly happy with his team’s approach, even though they appeared to want to throw the ball around wherever they were on the field. “Our execution let us down ... so I don’t think we were over elaborate in our approach. The players must trust their instinct, their gut. I want them to know they have the freedom to play ... the thing is we didn’t take the points when they were on offer.”
The Lions were kept scoreless by the Hurricanes in the second period. They kicked two penalties and a late converted try. It was far from the start Ackermann and Co would have envisaged, especially as it was a home game and a place where the Lions won on plenty of occasions in 2014.
This Saturday they travel to Durban for a meeting with the Sharks.