The anatomy of a Lions tactical disaster
Despite Western Province being deserved winners in their Currie Cup semi, Swys de Bruin and co dug their own hole with some weird decisions.
The Lions’ thinking was muddled throughout the semi against Western Province. Photo: Carl Fourie/Gallo Images.
Western Province were undoubtedly deserved winners of their Currie Cup semifinal against the Lions at Newlands this past weekend.
They kept their heads better and were clinical in scoring points when they were on offer.
However, the Streeptruie were also greatly assisted by some muddled Lions tactics, specifically the use of imposing Springbok hooker Malcolm Marx.
We dissect what is, at best, some dodgy thinking by the Lions coaching staff – with some input from WP coach John Dobson and skipper Chris van Zyl.
The chopping and changing of the starting line-up was too frequent
When the Lions announced their team last Thursday, Springboks Marx and Ruan Dreyer were included in the starting XV.
Now, it’s happened before that teams have changed before a kick-off for tactical reasons.
But, as Province revealed, the Lions were still changing just before kick-off.
“It was one of those old Dick Muir (the former Sharks coach and Springbok assistant) tricks. He loved doing that,” said Dobson.
“Even the team sheet we got just before kick-off still was different to the one that actually went on to the field. We sort of half expected that.”
De Bruin insists he was in control.
“Saying we panicked is just an opinion. There was definitely no panic whatsoever.”
It certainly didn’t psych out Province.
“The changes didn’t bother us. It really didn’t matter who was playing in front of us,” said Van Zyl.
Marx is too good just to be an impact player
Despite not enjoying the best of games, the Springbok hooker still enjoyed some good moments when he came on after 31 minutes.
In fact, those small touches suggested he could’ve made a bigger impact had he not been rushed into action.
“Malcolm got one good steal and one good carry,” noted Dobson.
“He’s a great rugby player. If I was a Lions supporter, I would’ve wanted to see him on the field longer. That’s the honest truth.”
Again, De Bruin felt his trump card would be versatile enough to perform from the bench.
“Malcolm was an absolute folk hero for South Africa. The plan was to see how it goes and just bring him on a bit later when the initial tempo was lower.”
The scrappy line-outs weren’t justification for not starting Marx
Marx’s throws into the line-outs are still something the 23-year-old needs to work on.
That’s acknowledged by him and his coaches.
Yet when he came, the line-outs didn’t become scrappy just because he couldn’t throw accurately.
“I was very chuffed with our contests, we worked very hard on it,” said Dobson.
“That said, it’s tough asking Malcolm to come on and find just one ‘specialist’ jumper in Marvin Orie. There weren’t a lot of options.”
The strategy of not taking points on offer was questionable
The Lions are a team that prides itself on scoring points through attacking rugby.
That’s commendable and works in general.
But playoffs in the Currie Cup are generally gritty affairs, where cutting out mistakes is better and kicking for points pays off.
The Lions still need to find a balance.
“They scored from that early maul but to my mind you want to stay within a score away from taking the lead again in a game like this,” said Dobson.
“Once we got to 19 points, the Lions needed to score twice and were chasing the game anyway. I was surprised they didn’t kick for poles more.”
