Having read a lot about individual players and teams chances of making the CC final, I could not help thinking about the tactics displayed in the Sharks/Lions game on Saturday that I attended.

While it is true that classy players make a difference, we are too often critical of a teams performance based on how we saw the individual player perform.

The reality is that even the best players can be made to look ordinary in a team that is tactically incorrect on the day. It is most important for a team to also be able to adapt during a game in which the plan out of the change room becomes unplayable.

The Lions came close to winning a game in which they were the underdogs as a result of their ability to defend very well. However we need to look at the defensive task they were given by the Sharks as a result of the tactics the Sharks used on the day with the ball in their hands. When we examine this point we see that the Sharks, with a lot of posession managed to make the Lions defensive job easy as a result of their predictability and their inability to adapt during the eight minutes.

There was the small matter of the Sharks kicking the ball onto Earl Rose at full back for the Lions, hoping for a mistake only to find that the full back was having one of his good days and in fact was able to return the pressure to the Sharks. This is where adapting your tactics becomes a must. However I cannot help going back to the old fashioned basic of rugby being a simple game that requires a team to go forward until they are able to strike at the opposition goal line. Herein lies the basic problem with the Sharks tactics on the day. Simply running the ball down a talented back line time and time again made for lateral rugby that did not cross the advantage line and allowed the Lions to defend with relative ease.

So what should the Sharks have done differently?

Simply put they needed to play direct rugby by taking the ball up and across the advantage line, particularly in the close channels in order to drive the Lions onto the back foot defensively and create a less structured situation for their backs to run at. However it is difficult to create that situation without a big, powerfull loose forward who is tasked with that job specifically on the day. Think about Danie Roussouw on the charge for the Bulls and Willem Alberts as a defensive loose forward who never allowed the Sharks to gain that momentum across the gain line.

Finally, this is not about the Sharks/Lions game last Saturday, but more about getting to view the tactics employed in a game, as your first area of review, before we start looking at individual performances, which certainly do vary and certainly play a part, but never much bigger than the team performance on the day, which is vastly affected by tactics and therefore decision making.