Lions chase consistency
The upside to their current situation is that they are in control of their own destiny, something they will certainly not be taking for granted as they aim to keep their intensity at an all-time high.
"We are pleased with where we are at the moment. It is in our hands [finishing top of the African conference] and consistency is now the ultimate prize – to play with the same intent, intensity and belief. Great sides are the ones who play consistently week in and week out.
"It was fun on the park, everyone is really playing for each other and playing their part in the side, especially the guys who rotated. I thought each one was brilliant. Everyone stepped up [when they got onto the park] and made a great impact. For us, it was really a squad effort.
"They [the Jaguares] came out firing and put a lot of pressure on us, especially at breakdown. They got a lot of turnovers and gained some momentum but we knew that if we played with good intensity from the start and for the full 80 minutes, things would be in our favour," Whiteley said.
Lions coach Johan Ackerman expressed his gratitude towards his players for getting maximum points from the game.
"It was definitely physical and we are grateful for the five points and the win. We were pleased with the amount of line breaks we got in the first half, although we never finished them off but credit must go to the players.
"They made the correction at half-time and were more accurate in the second half. it was far from a perfect match and we have plenty to work on looking forward towards the Bulls match," Ackerman said.
The Lions have established themselves as the best team in the country but Ackerman knows his team is in for a tough time as they head into the back-end of the competition.
"We are happy with where we are but it is hard to say it is all over because we have a few tough matches ahead of us. We must get over each hurdle, so we will just need to focus on ourselves and the upside is that everything is in our hands.
"We are not in a situation where we need to rely on other teams, so we just need to press the reset button on Monday. We have a big challenge against the Bulls at Loftus and if we can get through that, then it is going to be an exciting time that lies ahead," the coach added.
