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Johannesburg - Lions coach John Mitchell attributed his team’s 24-20 home defeat by the Bulls on Saturday to a lack of team work at crucial stages in the game.
“The undoing of our first half was that we didn’t stick to plan and individualism cost us,” Mitchell said after the match.
“I’m not happy, I’m not interested in coming close and we’re going to have to learn very quickly that the mindset we need to have is that there is no pat on the back for coming second.”
Not even the fact that his team picked-up a bonus point for losing with less than seven points could turn Mitchell’s distinct frown into some form of a smile.
“There are a lot of positives, but again, coming second is not good enough and I’m not happy about the performance.”
During the opening stages of the match, the Lions were guilty of giving away possession in areas where they could easily have scored if they had been more patient – or less selfish as the coach highlighted.
He was also frustrated with then manner in which his team struggled at the scrums, while their deviation from the original plan made his blood pressure rise
“If the boys had stuck to plan, it was all there, sitting there available.”
The Lions were trailing 24-5 at halftime and knew they had to score tries if they were to catch up to the defending champions and so, on many occasions when they were awarded penalties inside a kickable range, they opted instead for lineouts.
Their success rate in the Bulls 22, however, was still not good enough to win.
Mitchell said he had no problem with the on-field decisions that were made in the second half.
“You won’t win this competition kicking goals,” he said.
“You’ve got to be a four-try team and we certainly have that ability to be just that.
“We had to get ourselves back into the contest and we did that through playing football and not through kicking balls through the posts.
“What was costly was the miss at the start, also conversions - and they became costly.”
The Lions’ next match is against the Stormers in Cape Town on Saturday.
