Hurricanes to get out the blocks quickly
Coles, who said his team cannot afford to concede an early lead as they did in the quarterfinal against the Brumbies last week, is looking for something similar to what they did to the Lions last year.
In a Round 10 league match at the same Ellis Park stadium, the Hurricanes got out the blocks quickly and raced into a 24-0 lead inside the first half-hour.
The Lions never recovered and the Canes ended up winning 50-17.
The Hurricanes did overcome their slow start last week and scored 20 unanswered points in the second half in Canberra, which handed the defending champions a 35-16 victory.
The Hurricanes know that they cannot afford to let the Lions build scoreboard pressure early on in their semifinal encounter.
With a vocal Ellis Park crowd getting behind the Lions, a big early lead for the home team could spell trouble for the visitors.
"You can't afford for a team to go up by 16 points and expect to win," Coles said.
"We've been talking all week about starting really well and just being accurate.
"That's what we really concentrating on and hopefully this happens on Saturday," Coles added.
Coles added that the Hurricanes are expecting a massive onslaught from the Lions, in order for them to make up for their disappointing quarterfinal performance against the Sharks.
"It wasn't their best performance in the end, but it makes them more dangerous for Saturday – because they want to make sure they come out and have a good performance.
"I suppose both sides aren't too happy with how they played, but they still won and that's just knockout footy, so we expecting them to come out with fireworks," Coles said.
By Josh Isaacson
@isaacson_j
@rugby365com
