Lions coach Johan Ackermann gave a damning assessment of his side’s performance in their 28-7 loss to the Crusaders in their Vodacom Super Rugby match at Ellis Park on Saturday, calling on his players to “take responsibility” for their own performances.

A visibly angry Ackermann wasn’t impressed with the way the Lions imploded against the street-smart Crusaders, who simply fed off the home side’s mistakes and scored two late tries to inflate the scoreboard in their favour.

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The Crusaders became the first side in the competition to cross the Indian ocean and win this year, and Ackermann was not pleased, especially with some of the suicidal moves his team tried within their red zone, handing turnovers to the opposition instead of showing maturity and exiting their half.

“They were better than us and they executed better. Even if we didn’t come off the bye they would have beaten us. We were poor in the air, poor at ruck time. They were the better team on the day, more desperate to win. They stuck to their game plan and we didn’t,” a brutally honest Ackermann said.

“We didn’t play at all to what we wanted to play. We wanted to change direction, which we didn’t do. If we kicked we kicked poorly, we gave them easy ball. We didn’t kick out from our 22 and gave them the opportunity to pin us back there. It was just not the right execution from individuals.”

Pressed for more specifics, Ackermann pointed to Marnitz Bosman’s decision to run in his own 22 late in the game, losing the ball and Ryan Crotty scoring a try that was later disallowed as one such incident. Throughout the game the Lions tried to go toe to toe with the Crusaders, but often in the wrong positions on the field and paid for their decisions.

“It was bad tackling. We were getting momentum and then Bossie tried a bad pass in his own 22 and that changed the momentum. We had another scrum and then Faf (de Klerk) didn’t tackle Andy Ellis and they got three points again. If the players aren’t going to take responsibility individually for the performance then you’re not going to get results.”

Ackermann was also frustrated with the tactics on attack, where the Lions botched several chances by being over-eager and not making the right decisions when they had the Crusaders on the back foot.

“If you get a turnover from a ruck, pass the ball. Twice we almost went and scored and we want to pick and go next to the ruck. The next player arrives and wants to go next to the ruck. They get turnovers and they score. It’s not the way we train, it is not the way we play so the players must take responsibility in the way we execute the game plan.”

His sentiments were echoed by captain Warren Whiteley, who said the team was disappointed in themselves, but needed to rectify their own actions as soon as possible.

“We’re very disappointed, especially as we are at home. We as players have to take responsibility to execute the game plan. We didn’t stick to how we trained this week. We have a last game coming up before we go overseas, so it is a must win for us.”

The Lions face the Cell C Sharks this weekend in their final home game before heading on a four-week overseas tour.