Saders sink brainless Lions

Saders sink brainless Lions

31 Mar 2012

RYAN VREDE reports on the Crusaders’ 23-13 victory over a tactically naive Lions at Ellis Park.

Yet another loss where the Lions played what they deem beautiful rugby. Their supporters will settle for an ugly, deformed or downright hideous win right now.

The excuse about injuries doesn’t wash. Every team has injuries. Their problems are rooted in coach John Mitchell’s refusal to relinquish a misplaced belief in a fundamentally flawed game plan. The Lions continue to play a brand of rugby too heavily weighted to the expansive. It lacks the balance needed to make them a consistently threatening side.

The Saders were uncharacteristically porous on defence in the first half (missed 10 tackles and lacked the physicality at the gainline that has traditionally been the bedrock of their success). Yet for all their possession and territory the Lions led by just three points (13-10) at the break. They will point to missed opportunities that could have extended their lead, but those sorts of errors have become chronic.

The Saders scored with one of their first opportunities in the half, Dan Carter expertly picking out Zac Guilford’s run on his inside shoulder. It was an ominous warning for the hosts, who despite scoring a converted try just before the break, had exhibited little to inspire.

The Saders started brilliantly after the break, Sean Maitland collecting the most sublime grubber from Israel Dagg to score. Tom Taylor converted and kicked two penalties thereafter to give his side a 10-point lead.

Still the Lions had the ascendancy in the territory and possession stakes and were forcing the visitors into a plethora of tackles. But there was a marked sense of composure on defence from the seven-time champs, who committed few to the breakdown and around the ruck fringe, safe in the knowledge that the Lions would not seek to punch up close through phases.

The Lions became increasingly cavalier as their desperation grew and this suited the Saders, who isolated runners and kept their breakdown turnover count ticking over. The Lions never looked like winning. They simply didn’t have the tactical capacity for it.

Expect Mitchell to point once more to his injury list and speak of this loss as a lesson. Bullshit. He needs to be accountable for what promises to be yet another disastrous Super Rugby campaign under his watch.


369 Comments

Pages: « 1 2 [3] 4 5 6 7 8 » Show All

  • 101.cab: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 18:53 pm

    poor old butch, no-ones fault, lions showed alot of guts, you cant play against a team like crusaders with more than half your team out with injuries.

  • 102.JockBok: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 18:54 pm

    @chch(chch)-96:

    Cheetahs got 5 points dude. You up early or going to bed late? ;)

  • 103.Transformation: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 18:56 pm

    ryan: for this type of article title expect flak from wanderer& katman boet! bwahahahaha :mrgreen:

  • 104.chch: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 18:58 pm

    “Close isn’t close enough” hmmm

  • 105.XV: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 18:59 pm

    Vrede….what has Mitchell done to you? I guess I will take your posts seriously when your use of the english language improves. In the meantime compare the Lions in S15 versus 2 years ago.

  • 106.ShaunSwindon: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 18:59 pm

    Lions are terrible. If any of the local teams need to make way for the Kings next year it surely has to be them now :(

    Cheetahs are in a league of their own compared to the Lions :D

  • 107.chch: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:00 pm

    @JockBok(JockBok)-102:

    Oh sorry, well done the Cheetahs. Unlucky Lions :)

    Neither woke up to watch Crusaders and Man Citie lose. We have an extra hour tonight which every flippen website fails to allow for when displaying the flippen kickoff.

  • 108.bananaboy: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:04 pm

    @ShaunSwindon(Karma-zaf)-106: How the hell can you say that given their injuries this season. They have yet to field a squad without injuries to first team/squad members. There were 15 players missing from the starting 15 today.

  • 109.JockBok: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:05 pm

    @chch(chch)-107:

    Ouch. But neither lost, although I’ve a feeling a draw for City is a good result for you ;)

    Hearts beat Aberdeen 3-0. Now for the Stormers to overcome the Bulls and Craig Joubert :D

  • 110.Slappes: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:05 pm

    @Transie lol! Theyre gonna ask for playoffs and kak on Ryan

  • 111.Slappes: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:08 pm

    Feel for Butch though, eish Elton shouldve taken it. Anyway lions are last on Sa log

  • 112.chch: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:10 pm

    @JockBok(JockBok)-109:

    Early morning bad wording … to watch the Crusaders win and Man Citie mess up :)

  • 113.HHS: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:13 pm

    Shocking 2nd half from the Lions. Not good.

    Ryan, stick to your sh1tty prediction posts.
    5 – 6 injuries to the team you support, what do think will happen?
    Try again.

  • 114.HHS: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:20 pm

    Daar buckle die site alweer.

  • 115.wooden spoon: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:22 pm

    yep, site is kaput.

    seriously, the pink jersey is ok, but the pink shorts, socks and boots just make it all an eyesore.

    White shorts would have been just fine.

  • 116.Dawn: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:23 pm

    Comments closed!

  • 117.HHS: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:25 pm

    @Dawn(Dawn)-116: Not closed. Thread fakt…

  • 118.wooden spoon: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:26 pm

    Bulls are under a lot of pressure.

  • 119.JockBok: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:26 pm

    @Dawn(Dawn)-116:

    Keo can’t take any more ragging on his pink Bulls..

  • 120.chch: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:27 pm

    Great opportunity for running counter attack to the right and Habanna kicked

  • 121.HHS: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:27 pm

    Daai is baie rooi op daai laaitie se kop.

  • 122.JockBok: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:27 pm

    Shocker, look at Greyling in that scrum.

  • 123.Dawn: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:27 pm

    Always happens tho. Wonder why

  • 124.wooden spoon: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:28 pm

    Skinstad says “we’ve spoken in the week on all the forums…”

    So which nick here belongs to Skinstad?

    My money is on Skop.

  • 125.chch: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:29 pm

    usually Keo only closes threads when NZ are winning the tri-nations final game or a NZ super side is winning a Super Rugby final. What is he being lame about now?

  • 126.wooden spoon: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:32 pm

    Liebenberg the tjop again!

  • 127.Dawn: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:32 pm

    “Advantage pink!”

  • 128.rangerman: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:33 pm

    haha, this site is so amateur lol.

    go you pink cows go (apologies my stormer friends).

  • 129.JockBok: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:33 pm

    Caroline laughs and
    It’s raining all day
    She loves to be one of the girls
    She lives in the place
    In the side of our lives
    Where nothing is
    Ever put straight
    She turns herself round
    And she smiles and she says
    ‘This is it’

    ‘That’s the end of the joke’
    And loses herself
    In her dreaming and sleep
    And her lovers walk
    Through in their coats

    Pretty in pink
    Isn’t she?
    Pretty in pink
    Isn’t she?

    All of her lovers
    All talk of her notes
    And the flowers
    That they never sent
    And wasn’t she easy
    And isn’t she
    Pretty in pink
    The one who insists
    He was first in the line
    Is the last to
    Remember her name
    He’s walking around
    In this dress
    That she wore
    She is gone
    But the joke’s the same

    Pretty in pink
    Isn’t she?
    Pretty in pink
    Isn’t she?

    Caroline talks to you
    Softly sometimes
    She says
    ‘I love you’ and
    ‘Too much’
    She doesn’t have anything
    You want to steal
    Well
    Nothing you can touch
    She waves
    She buttons your shirt
    The traffic
    Is waiting outside
    She hands you this coat
    She gives you her clothes
    These cars collide

    Pretty in pink
    Isn’t she?
    Pretty in pink
    Isn’t she?

  • 130.Dawn: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:33 pm

    Who knows chch.

  • 131.rangerman: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:34 pm

    haha, the stormers bulls thread reckons 23 mins , my tv reckons 21.

    and boolands erupts :lol:

  • 132.JockBok: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:34 pm

    Oom Paul needs a slap

  • 133.wooden spoon: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:34 pm

    The Stormers high five the most out of any Super rugby team. Sometimes even when the other side knock on. Is high fiving big in CT at the mo?

  • 134.stormersboy: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:34 pm

    can i get an air punch?

  • 135.chch: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:35 pm

    Good refereeing … that was the ‘squeeze ball’

  • 136.HHS: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:35 pm

    Habana 0 – Greyling 2

  • 137.rangerman: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:36 pm

    haha, vermeulen tried to feed habana to the bearded prop in pink lmao!

  • 138.Robzim: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:36 pm

    @wooden spoon(wooden spoon)-126:

    He is indeed a tjop.
    Same is Bissy.
    In your face, both of them.
    Hookers are like that.

  • 139.wooden spoon: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:37 pm

    @Robzim(Robzim)-138: Liebenberg goes OTT imo.

  • 140.stormersboy: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:37 pm

    Greyling is going to cost Bulls plenty of he doesn’t wind his neck in a bit.

  • 141.chch: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:38 pm

    Scathing article by Ryan above. I loved the Lions game plan. Carlos is a genius :)

  • 142.rangerman: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:38 pm

    seriously, why is it that every soutie commentator insists on calling him deon greyling?

    are they f u k k ing dof? they just showed his name on tv as DEAN you
    dic kheads????????????

    or are the tv okes the d i ck s?

    either way, its annoying as f uk

  • 143.wooden spoon: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:40 pm

    @rangerman(rangerman)-142: ja, he was baptised MacGuyver Dean Greyling.

    We know what show his folks watched on TV :-)

  • 144.stormersboy: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:41 pm

    @rangerman(rangerman)-142: I can almost guarantee that deAn butchers the English language himself plenty.

    He deserves whatever he gets.

    The doc shoulda slapped his momma.

  • 145.HHS: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:43 pm

    Why do Wynie get so much air time? A ginger with a snor – never a good thing.

  • 146.wooden spoon: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:44 pm

    Haha that Bulls manager sitting on the side is the one Nama thought threw the plastic bottle at Meealamu.

  • 147.JockBok: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:45 pm

    @wooden spoon(wooden spoon)-143:

    Holy crapp, you’re serious? MacGuyver?

    That’s insane.

    And brilliant at the same time :D

  • 148.wooden spoon: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:47 pm

    @JockBok(JockBok)-147: That’s what it said on the TV. Wasn’t MacGuyver’s real name Richard Dean Anderson?

    Explains where Dean may come from too.

  • 149.cab: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:47 pm

    ralapelle#s having a fantastic game. bladdy good game allround.

  • 150.stormersboy: Reply to this comment
    31 Mar 2012, 19:47 pm

    Nice, Stormers can’t complain about the ref so far.

Pages: « 1 2 [3] 4 5 6 7 8 » Show All

Keo.co.za has always promoted uncensored views, but has never tolerated racist or crass outbursts. Come on guys and girls. If you can't moderate yourselves or each other then I am going to be forced to regulate the posts and enforce a registration process for comments. The choice is yours.

Have your say

You must be logged in to post a comment.