Lions in SA
Lions in 'honesty session'
2009-06-25 10:39
Email | Print
Takes responsibility (Gallo)
|
Stephen NellCape Town - Heads were hanging in shame in the British and Irish Lions' camp this week as they were forced to watch footage of the Springboks' ruck and mauls from the first Test in Durban as part of an "honesty session".
The idea of the session had more to do with the Lions taking responsibility for their game, rather than embarrassing individuals.
Prior to the Durban Test there was much talk about how the Lions forwards were going to demolish the Springbok scrum, but Bok loosehead prop, Tendai 'Beast' Mtawarira's devastating actions spoke louder than words.
"We had a good honesty session on Monday. We showed visual material of South Africa's ruck and mauls from the lineouts. It was one of our biggest embarrassments," said Lions scrum coach Graham Rowntree.
"That sort of thing should not be allowed to happen. Some of the guys took responsibility and it has to be fixed this weekend."
Rowntree was glad to see English tighthead Phil Vickery finding his feet on Tuesday night in the draw with the Emerging Springboks.
Vickery, who was made to suffer in the scrums by Mtawarira last Saturday, was reminded of this fact when the Newlands crowd started yelling “B-E-A-S-T” after he appeared on the field.
"Phil made an impact. I’m happy for him. He is a proud guy and his honesty came out in his review of the first Test. We are not going to single him out," said Rowntree.
Vickery and Lee Mears will in all probability lose their positions in the starting line-up for the second Test in Pretoria.
"We will tighten our defence against ruck and mauls," said Rowntree.
"We didn't defend well in the first match against the Royal XV nor in the first Test. We are going to be more enthusiastic about defending (against rucks and mauls) on our line."
Rowntree in 1997 toured South Africa with the Lions as a player. He didn’t play in any of the Tests in their victory series, but took inspiration from the success that previous Lions teams have enjoyed in SA.
"It motivates me as coach. I am also responsible in part for our failure last Saturday," he said.
"It is very important to get the team choice and the scrum right. Our inability to stop South Africa’s driving maul from the lineouts and the penalties that we gave away in the scrums, made our task more difficult."
Rowntree hopes that English loosehead Andrew Sheridan will recover in time from a back injury to be considered for the second Test. If he is, there is a reasonable chance that he will be on the substitute's bench.