Ackermann gets 'intense' with Lions
Golden Lions coach Johan Ackermann has put his team on notice: Lift your intensity and accuracy or pay the price.
Ackermann, speaking to rugby365 ahead of the Currie Cup crunch encounter with Western Province in Johannesburg on Saturday, made no attempt to hide his disappointment with the conduct of the players in their 26-36 loss to the Blue Bulls last week.
"The challenge can't be any bigger," he said of the encounter with the table-topping, unbeaten WP team this coming Saturday.
"[They are] a team in incredible form, unbeaten, playing with lots of confidence.
"We disappointed ourselves [with the loss to the Bulls last week]. From the outset we were just not accurate enough and we woke up far too late and we attempted to turn it around, but failed.
"We simply can't afford that [slow start] again. As I have said, there is no tougher task than taking on Western Province, but that's the had we have been dealt and we have to rectify it this week.
"Us, from a coaching point of view, looked at where we can improve."
Ackermann also said his charges had shown signs of fatigue and subsequently lightened the load in training this week.
"We had a good look at what happened last week," he said.
"There is still a lot of rugby to be played. There are five games left, so we are definitely not lost."
Asked what aspect of their game the Lions focused on this week, Ackermann again cut to the chase.
"Our decision-making [was not good]," he told rugby365, adding: "We made chip-kicks when we shouldn't have, we ran when we shouldn't have.
"We also lost possession too often.
"The biggest disappointment was the intensity with which we played – there was no urgency.
"Maybe they [the Blue Bulls] wanted it more than us and that is not what I expect of a Lions team – we have to be ready to play [at] that level."
By Jan de Koning
