Inaccuracy holding 'Saders back
Crusaders coach Todd Blackadder admitted to being frustrated with his team’s lack of accuracy in their hard-fought victory over the Lions in Johannesburg on Saturday.
The seven-time champions trailed the injury-ravaged home team at the half-time break, and although they showed better control to power to victory in the second half Blackadder was convinced that they let a four-try bonus point slip through their grasp.
The Lions took the game to the Crusaders in the early stages, and Blackadder said that he expects his team to be far more clinical.
“We were really disappointed with our start, we were really inaccurate. But we played with better intent in the second half after sitting back in the first half,” he told a post-match media conference.
“We had good field position and we wanted to be a lot more direct and go through the middle. But we absolutely let a bonus point slip because we were really inaccurate, which is frustrating,” added the Crusaders boss.
Skipper Kieran Read was left relieved that his side had managed to get over the line against a Lions side that never let them rest at high altitude.
“It was a really hard game and we had to dig deep in the second half to gain the ascendancy,” admitted a smiling but breathless Read, after a match staged 1,800 metres above sea level.
Lions captain Joshua Strauss was left regretting his team’s limp second-half effort and said that getting close to a classy team like the Crusaders was little consolation.
“We let ourselves down in the second half. We got close but not close enough. After a good first half we let ourselves down in the early stages of the second half,” he said.
Lions coach John Mitchell said that his team had let themselves down after the half-time break by making basic errors and singled out the line-out as a particularly concerning area of weakness.
“The moments after half-time were the turning point. We just didn’t control possession and we weren’t accurate enough. It’s very obvious our line-out’s not working as we’d like and it’s unacceptable,” he said.
