Johannesburg - If Jaco Kriel’s brutally honest assessment of their United Rugby Championship clash this past weekend is anything to go by, then this week for the Emirates Lions is going to be a difficult one filled with self-reflection, hard-choices and extreme tough love.
For the Vodacom Bulls, meanwhile, they will go about their business in the next five days having learnt valuable, positive lessons regarding their substance and composure.
Lions stand-in captain Kriel was scathing of his team’s performance in their 34-10 loss on Saturday to the Vodacom Bulls at Emirates Airline Park, questioning his squad-mates commitment on the field as his side lost their second consecutive match at home. The Lions have now conceded 84 points in those matches against the Sharks and the Bulls, highlighting their defensive concerns.
“Our defence is something that we addressed this week,” said Kriel, “especially after the Sharks game. We felt our transition from attack to defence wasn’t good enough.
"(Saturday), I believe that we had a lack of contempt. We must be grateful to be here and it just seemed like the guys took it for granted. Every single one of us is going to have a hard look at ourselves and we must realise that it is a huge privilege to be here.
“It is not ideal to feel like that on the field but a positive is that it is fixable,” the Springbok flank continued.
“I told the guys beforehand, play for each other. If you get that respect within the team - so the guys play for each other; and I am not saying that the guys are not – but to have that never-say-die attitude, to never give up, no matter how tired you are. Defence structures will only take so far, it comes down to attitude.”
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That revelation will not sit well with the team's supporters or the management staff as the Joburg-based side prepare for the return fixture against the Bulls at Loftus this weekend. And while Kriel was clearly peeved, head coach Ivan van Rooyen tried to temper his disappointment.
Said Van Rooyen: “If you take consistency across the last seven games, it was by far our worst 40 minutes.
“Jaco did say it, so I can’t backtrack from it, so saying that they (the players) are not 100% there or committed, if you are half a second off the pace or you are 98% there mentally that is the reflection we get. Saying they are not willing or keen, saying that they are not fully in it, I think would be inaccurate.
“I also think it would be fooling to just do the same thing and not make changes. So, there will be some good reflection from the coaches’ side, from the players' side, from us as a whole squad. We just have to be better.”
Jake White, meanwhile, had no such concerns.
Although his side did fumble a handful of try-scoring opportunities that should fairly have inflated the scoreline, the Bulls mentor should be pleased in the manner that his side bounced back from their loss to the Stormers last weekend. His charges did everything that was required of them to batter and bruise the Lions, pinning their hosts back with aplomb in the first-half, and then managing the game in a scrappy second half.
Jaco Kriel 🤩 pic.twitter.com/tW9pHp4rM8
— Lions (@LionsRugbyCo) January 29, 2022
They were especially disruptive at the breakdowns and save for the scrums, which did falter under early pressure, the Bulls exerted control over the encounter in most areas.
“After last week,” said White, “it was a massive disappointment, especially the way we found a way to lose.
“(Saturday) there were times that we showed composure that we should have shown last week. The defence at the end of the game, for me, people can break games into different parts and the way that they defended even though we had the bonus point and had won, is something that makes it special for a team.
"I am hoping that we use that in the next couple of weeks."
The URC encounter this weekend will no doubt be easier for White and his team to prepare for as they now also have the psychological edge over their southern neighbours. For Van Rooyen, the problems are compounded by the possible loss of skipper Burger Odendaal to probable concussion and a suspected knee-injury to utility-forward Willem Albert.
@FreemanZAR