Kriel injury blow for the Lions ahead of tour
His team were simply not good enough, Lions coach Johan Ackermann lamented after their struggling Super Rugby performance against the Jaguares at Ellis Park at the weekend.
The Lions embarked on their away leg yesterday and Ackermann said a big improvement would be required before facing the Force this weekend in Perth.
“We weren’t accurate and we didn’t look after our ruck ball,” Ackermann said following their narrow 24-21 victory over the Argentine side.
“We also couldn’t push up the tempo of the game.”
Though the Lions earned their seventh win in eight starts, Ackermann said he had addressed his players at half-time with their team leading 14-7.
“A lot of opportunities to score tries were squandered in the first half and at half-time I challenged the guys because this is not we stand for,” he said.
It was only when six replacements were sent on in the 56th minute that the Lions started to gel.“The bench was going to be important and everybody had to play their part,” he said.
The Lions named 25 players for their three-match tour, but in a big setback flank Jaco Kriel had to stay behind with a knee injury, along with wing Madosh Tambwe who returned to the national Under-20 squad.
Wing Ruan Combrinck also hadn’t recovered yet from a shoulder injury.