Lions stumble in close race with Cheetahs

Cheetahs 22 - 24 Lions

After the seventy-point ravaging of the Golden Lions on Wednesday, many expected the Lions to win by a similar - if not even more brutal – margin against the Free State Cheetahs, bottom of the Super 14 this season. The Lions’ arrogance, their laziness at the breakdown, and the Cheetah’s irrepressible belief combined to spark a bitterly-fought contest that the Cheetahs could, and probably should, have won.

Heinrich Brussow, left out of the Springboks squad by Peter de Villiers, played with a whole portion of heavily-salted chips on his shoulder – one of the Super 14’s standout players this year, the flanker in the white scrum cap seemed to be first to every single breakdown, spoiling or stealing ball with such ease that he almost single-handedly ruined the chances of today’s Lions back row for test spots against the Springboks. Give the man a British passport, please.

The Lions’ problems today stemmed from this failure at the tackle area – Andrew Sheridan tried his utmost, but ultimately as a team the Lions did not secure the ball, and never got rid of the pesky Cheetahs who made themselves a right nuisance all day. What were the Lions expecting? Nice, clean, tidy, play-by-the-rules-old-chap rucking? To quote Leonardo DiCaprio in Blood Diamond, in his finest attempt at a foreign accent: “This is Africa, bro”.

It’s only going to get worse. The Lions need to get mean, fast, or Shalk Burger, the former World Player of the Year selected for the Springboks at openside over Brussow, will eat them up like a packet of fresh biltong. Pierre Spies, who has been in the form of his life for the Bulls, is another who will simply tear the Lions apart if they are so weak around the tackle. South Africans are famous for both their skill and cheating at the breakdown, and so far these Lions don’t look anything like being kings of the jungle in that area.

The back-line looked weak on paper, and while at first it seemed as though the younger guys were up to the challenge, they wilted and folded as the pressure increased. Earls started well, scoring nicely to put his forgettable first game behind him, but was invisible for the rest of the match, with Andy Powell called in to do most of the trucking in midfield instead. Shane Williams is revving the engine in a low gear at the moment, trying hard to get involved but ultimately doing very little other than skipping out of tackles and giving interception passes – he needs to find the clutch or Bowe and Monye will beat him to the test spots.

There was no impetus from the forwards or backs upon which to build an attacking platform, and not even Lee Byrne seemed able to put on his dancing shoes as normal. In the dying minutes, as the Cheetahs pressed for the win that almost came with a missed drop goal, Byrne uncharacteristically dropped a high ball – the first sign of fallibility after several great performances.

Any positives? The front row looked good, with Sheridan and Murray twisting the knife nicely, although Ross Ford’s throwing left a lot to be desired. Stephen Ferris showed his pace with another nice try, and has probably come out of the back row debacle with some credibility despite his sin-binning just before half time which let the Cheetahs back into the game.

James Hook’s goal-kicking was metronomic (and by God it needed to be), his chipping deft and his punting solid, but he needed to take control and call for a drop goal when the Lions were 15-24 up with great field position and ten minutes to go. Instead, the Cheetahs scored an interception try and could have won with a drop goal of their own at 22-24 in the dying moments. That is the kind of decision-making that will not only give him the best chance of playing in the tests, but also give the Lions the best chance to win the series (Guscott et al., Lions vs South Africa, 2nd test, 1997).

Harry Ellis did himself proud today. The zesty Leicester pest bested the rest in his quest for the tests, kamikaze-diving at kickers’ feet, bellowing at his forwards and making some good little runs. The only worry is his occasional propensity to lose his composure, hinted at today when he flew out of the defensive line in a one-man blitz which left his team-mates exposed. He is a Maverick to Mike Blair’s Goose, but as long as he can keep the idiocy in check he will be in the running against Iceman Phillips for the 9 shirt.

Lots to work on for Wednesday’s game against better opposition in the form of the Sharks, but we will probably see a line-up featuring the faces that gelled so well in the game against the Golden Lions, so keep your paws crossed for a sturdier performance than today’s pottering one.