Cheetahs being equipped to entertain
This is the view of Cheetahs coach Franco Smith, who said this season was always going to be about changing from a conservative to a more enlightening culture.
Speaking to rugby365 ahead of their Round 10 Super Rugby encounter with the Reds, in Brisbane on Saturday, Smith admitted he has been disappointed with the quality of their game in the loss to the Rebels last week.
However, that is just part of the roller coaster ride that will get them to their final destination.
"We should look at how to improve our own game and not, in difficult circumstances, start looking at the scoreboard," Smith said.
"We have said, from the outset, that we are building a new team, establishing a new style and culture of playing.
"It will have its ups-and-downs.
"However, we are fighting hard each week to equip the players to continue improving.
"Our main emphasis, on this tour and for the rest of the season, will be to equip these players to play attractive rugby and win."
Smith said their main focus in training this week was to retain possession.
"We come under pressure because we concede so many turnovers," he told rugby365, adding: "The way we have played before this season was a bit conservative and we now want to play with a bit more freedom.
"It [the change in style] has resulted in some handling errors, or there were players who did not reacted quickly enough.
"Teams like New Zealand built on this system for years and it is the same process that we are busy with," he said, adding that they will continue to play more with ball in hand.
Smith said the Reds are also under pressure to get some wins and no doubt they would want to produce a good performance at home.
"They had a surprise win over the Highlanders a couple of weeks back, so no doubt they would like to reproduce that performance at home.
"It is important that we concentrate on what we can do well.
"The quality of our game this past weekend was not how I wanted it.
"We are working hard to be a very good quality team by the end of the season.
"The Reds are a team that play a high-paced game and use the width of the field. They look to get the spacings between defenders in the midfield as wide as possible, in order to create gaps – then they also look to offload.
"While they are dangerous by using those tactics, it can also lead to errors.
"Our linespeed on defence will need to be very good."
By Jan de Koning
@King365ed
@rugby365com
