Ex Keo
Lions head coach John Mitchell doesn’t believe his team is in a critical situation at this stage of the season.
It’s been a disappointing start for the Lions in Super Rugby in 2012. They slumped to their fifth consecutive defeat to the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein last weekend (a 29-5 loss) and their injury crisis hasn’t improved much since losing 13 first-choice players during the opening weeks of the competition.
The media has also increased pressure with the continuous speculation that the franchise that finishes last in the South African conference at the end of the season will be relegated to make way for the Southern Kings. This comes after Sanzar’s strong initial stance against Saru’s proposal to enter six teams in next year’s campaign. A final decision will only be made after Saru and its selected Super Rugby delegates have their meeting with Sanzar later this year. An official date has not been confirmed after their March trip was delayed.
Speculation or not, the Johannesburg franchise will be desperate for a win as they continue to plummet down the standings. And it won’t come easy as they have a tough schedule lined up until the end of May. They face the Bulls and Brumbies at Ellis Park over the next two weeks, before embarking on a challenging overseas tour as they tackle the Chiefs, Blues, Reds and Force on the road.
Despite the dilemmas on and off the field, Mitchell believes there is no ‘crisis’ within the Lions camp.
‘Our goals have remained the same. We still want to do well in Super Rugby this year. There is no crisis,’ Mitchell told keo.co.za. ‘All the relegation talk is speculation at the moment, so the team isn’t paying any attention to that. Our president Kevin de Klerk is the guy who deals with the politics and we are confident he can handle that. My job is to focus on performance.
‘Obviously we weren’t happy with the loss to the Cheetahs, but it wasn’t a case of us being outplayed. We conceded two soft tries and we are making too many mistakes, especially on attack. Our opponents are capitalising on those errors. We just need to be sharper, more patient and clinical with ball in hand.’
The Lions have only scored eight tries in six matches this season, which is the lowest try count in the competition so far. Mitchell believes if the players can improve on their finishing, they will cross the chalk more frequently and return to winning ways.
‘If you look at our previous matches, we are creating plenty of chances,’ said Mitchell. ‘We are just not reaching the tryline. We are also losing the ball too often in contact, and need to hold on more if we want to build the necessary momentum needed to beat the opposing defences.
‘We’re focusing on these problems at training, especially ahead of our game against the Bulls this weekend. We’re braced for a physical game.’
Unless they get back their injured players soon so they can start winning a few things are very difficult for the Lions. The existing SA Super Rugby franchsies should all be insiting on a relegation match before any side can be demoted.
