The final

They are relieved but the Golden Lions know they were far from convincing in their Currie Cup semi-final win over Griquas at Ellis Park on Saturday.

Though clearly superior in the tight exchanges‚ and in defence‚ they will have to improve by being more clinical when they meet the Free State Cheetahs in Saturday’s final in Bloemfontein.

The last time the teams met in the final was in 2007 when a Willem de Waal conversion separated the sides in a 20-18 win for the hosts in Bloemfontein.

The 34-19 semifinal scoreline sounds convincing enough for the Lions in their win over Griquas, but the issue was only put beyond doubt with four minutes to go when Marnus Schoeman crashed over from a marauding maul.

The Lions squandered a number of scoring opportunities‚ something coach Ivan van Rooyen put down to the occasion. “It was a typical‚ nervous semifinal‚” he said about his team’s high error rate when they had the opposition on the ropes.

Van Rooyen is happy‚ however‚ that his team is at least playing themselves into positions of promise.

“We created a fair bit. It’s about polishing the finishing‚ and the decision making. It is a thing we will work on‚” he vowed ahead of the final.

Another area that may also require some revision this week is his team’s discipline.

Griquas stayed in the game‚ largely through the boot of flyhalf George Whitehead.

“You can always work on discipline‚ especially at ruck time. It is a coachable thing‚” Van Rooyen said.

The Lions however will be buoyed by the work they did up front. Though they conceded a few penalties in that area‚ their scrum was largely in the ascendancy.

“In the last year or two there is not a lot of attacking rugby off scrums. To have the platform to attack is nice. It is good for the outside backs to get ball in a bit of space.”