Coach admits Cheetahs mentally fragile

THE Cheetahs are still affected by their Super Rugby uncertainty and they are playing not to lose instead of having a positive outlook, coach Franco Smith said.

The Cheetahs relinquished a 11-3 half-time lead to lose 20-14 to the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

Second-half implosions have become a recurring theme for the Cheetahs this season and Smith admitted the team’s mental fragility is letting them down.

“Playing out there is like having to stop at a traffic light‚” he said.

“It’s either you go or you stop. You have to do one of those and if you hesitate‚ you’ll get into an accident and that’s where we are now.

“At a vital period of the game, we started looking at the scoreboard and we started to take into consideration all the support and everyone who works at the Cheetahs.

“When you talk about it from Monday to Saturday‚ it sinks into your subconscious and we’re playing not to lose instead of wanting to win‚” Smith said.

“There’s a big monkey sitting on our backs and we’re making panic decisions.

“Our half-time chat was positive and we go out there with a new plan but somehow we still make the same mistakes that I believe we didn’t make in the previous matches.

“You make those errors in the first half‚ you get away with them, but in the second half we paid dearly for them.”

The second-half problems have to be a big concern‚ especially with the rampant Crusaders being the Cheetahs’ next opponents in Bloemfontein this Saturday.

In their 57-24 dismantling of the Stormers in Christchurch at the weekend‚ the Crusaders combined two powerful halves even though the Cape Town side offered a semblance of a fight back.

Smith is aware of the improvement his team needs to make ahead of their meeting with the seven-time champions.

“We’ll have to play to our strengths but I don’t think it’s going to be difficult motivating the boys for this game because it’s a quality side that is full of internationals,” he said.

“We did well against the Chiefs but it’s important that we bounce back against the Crusaders with the right attitude.

“We want to be significant and make the supporters proud. We won’t be able to wait till halfway through the week to put this result behind us. There will be a new plan for the Crusaders game.”