The Lions don’t learn from their mistakes they will be doomed to repeat them.
This was the harsh message from coach Johan Ackermann after his side held the Cell C Sharks for 65 minutes, before allowing them a turnover inside the Lions’ own half and watched as the game slipped away from them through an excellent Lwazi Mvovo try to lose 25-12 in their Vodacom Super Rugby match on Saturday.
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Ackermann was livid after a week earlier his side conceded two late tries to give the Crusaders a victory at Ellis Park, and did almost the same suicidal run while players were isolated in the game on Saturday, with the Sharks taking their chance to capitalise on the turnover.
“We made a bad decision by Alwyn (Hollenbach) to try and run out of our own half at 15-12, we got turned over and it was a brilliant try from Lwazi (Mvovo), so it was just bad decision-making at the end,” Ackermann said.
“I think we were unlucky with one or two calls that also took a bit of pressure off the Sharks, when Frans Steyn kicked those 50-odd metre penalties, I still don’t know why we got penalised there. It was 12 points in a few short minutes.
“But I really thought at 15-12 we were in it, and then we tried to run with nothing on, got turned over and they scored.
“That’s why my message to the players is simple, we keep sitting in this situation and we will continue if we do not learn to think quickly and make the right decisions on the field, especially as we didn’t need to panic at 15-12 down.
“We should have handled the pressure and put it onto their shoulders and forced them to play.”
Ackermann wasn’t happy at the way the team was reffed at the breakdown and is likely to take it up with match officials after watching the video again. Referee Craig Joubert’s calls at the breakdown and his tendency to penalise the attacking team was crucial at times, with Frans Steyn stepping up for 55 metre penalty bombs that made sure there was no way back for the Lions into the game.
“We have to give them credit, the breakdown is an area where they’ve got a lot of good players and they put them on the ball,” Ackermann explained.
“A guy like Marcel (Coetzee), Jean Deysel and others are quick onto the ball and they put you under pressure there. It is an area I thought they used to slow the ball down. One or two penalties perhaps should have gone our way, but it wasn’t meant to be.
“The two penalties that Frans kicked over from his side of the half, those were the two big decisions of the day. Maybe it was wrong, because Odwa (Ndungane) came from the side, slipped all the way round and tackled the nine, but we were pinned for sealing off the ball, when we didn’t even contest it.
“We have to look, but in general if you take the whole 80 minutes, they were good in the rucks. And we were better than last week, but that is still a big area for us to work on.”
Ackermann said considering they faced the leading side in the competition there still was a lot of positives for his team, but they know with a four week tour looming there is also a lot of work for them waiting as well.
“We did well, we had the fair share of territory as well and we played well. There is still a lot of work for us, we can contest for the ball a lot more in the air, we get there but we don’t go up enough,” he added.
“There is still work for us there, but I think it is disappointing because I don’t think the score is a true reflection of the game.
“I don’t think 25-12 is right, they didn’t dominate the game in that sense that we were 13 points behind them. 15-12 would have probably been better, not satisfactory but better.”
“At the end of the day credit to them, they played the full 80 minutes and they took their opportunities.”