Lions coach Mziwakhe Nkosi zoomed in on scrappy play in the second half of their semi-final to pinpoint work-ons ahead of their final against Griquas.
Lions coach Mziwakhe Nkosi said they will be going back to the basics of rugby in their training ahead of their Currie Cup final against Griquas this Saturday.
The Lions are favourites after topping the table in the league phase and then thrashing Boland Cavaliers 67–19 in their semi-final at Ellis Park. They will host Griquas after the Kimberley side recorded their fifth consecutive win against the Cheetahs, 25–5 at home.
Nkosi said the Lions were solid against Boland in the first half, scoring six tries to lead 41–5 at the break. But Boland fought back in the second half despite a yellow card. Play became scrappy; the Lions added four more tries while Boland scored two more.
‘We take the win’
“We tried to make it count from a tempo point of view. We got it right in the first half,” Nkosi said, noting it was Boland’s first game at altitude.
“It was probably not our most accurate second half, as the game got scrappier we got scrappier. But we take the win.”
The coach said the Lions also knocked on, conceded too many penalties and squandered chances in the second half. But on the whole, he said the Joburg team was strong in key areas.
“I thought we scrummed well whilst they tried to have one or two mauls that we stopped. When we did get over the gain line we were good. When we tightened up our game, Ruan Venter and those guys coming up through the middle were good.
“So when we had front-foot ball it allowed [flyhalf] Chris Smith to get on the front foot and it became a lot easier for Angelo [Davids] and them on the outside.”
Nkosi was referring to their wing, who scored four tries on the day.
Lions can’t repeat last year’s mistake
Asked about what they should work on ahead of the final, Nkosi mentioned their defeat to the Sharks last year, when the Lions led 14–13 at the death but kept playing instead of kicking out.
The Sharks regained possession and won a penalty for holding on in the tackle. Jordan Hendrikse slotted a 59m penalty to win the title.
“Similar to last year, we are going to live and die by our identity,” Nkosi said. “Rugby is rugby, you can’t move away from the stuff that’s important: set-piece, quality defence, good discipline, accurate kicking game. Then we’d be amiss not to play to our strengths.”
He joked that all he could do is hope the players do not make the same mistake as last year.
