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Ackermann: We need to make improvements

Johannesburg - Golden Lions coach Johan Ackermann feels they still have to make some improvements despite their near-perfect record in this year’s Currie Cup competition.

The Johannesburg side tightened their grip atop the standings with a 26-18 victory over the Sharks at Ellis Park over the weekend.

Ackermann believes little separates the sides in this year’s competition and they have to be careful of complacency in their final three matches before the start of the playoffs.

“The teams are level and if you don’t have the right attitude you can get yourself into trouble,” Ackermann said.

“The guys (Lions players) are playing well but if you look at the small things we miss we need to make improvements.”

Although the Lions only held a three-point lead going into the half-time break, the Sharks did little to threaten the home side.

It was only in the final five minutes of the match that the coastal side kicked into gear which was too little too late.

The Lions had a few scoring opportunities in the first half which could have taken the game away from the visitors had they converted it into points.

“The opportunities were there but we just need to use them more patiently, the Sharks fought hard and they were good in that first half,” Ackermann said.

“We felt much more in control than the score may suggest and we knew playing at altitude if we kept the tempo up the match would swing in our favour.”

Ackermann said while he was tempted to give some players a rest, he would only do that once they had secured a home semi-final.

“I try to rotate wherever I can, I’ve done so with the loose forwards and the props but we are not there yet and we need one or two more victories to really know we have a home semi-final,” he said.

“We will wait and see where the other teams are on the log but now we do have some comfort to rotate players but you also don’t want to break the continuity that we’ve built.”

 

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