Lions tactics...

I spent a lot of time watching the Lions last night and trying to work out how much quality is in this lineup and where they went wrong.

Let's be honest they did A LOT of things right in this game and if they continue to do these things right they'll be hard to beat at home... So HOW THE HELL DID THE CHEETAHS RUN THEM THIS CLOSE?!

What they did right:

• Heinke VD Merwe was a monster in the scrum - he sent a clear message to anyone wanting to take the Lions on upfront - Don't f#ck with our scrum
• Willem Alberts off the back of the scrum was brilliant even if he did keep quite a low profile
• Cobus "Baywatch" Grobelaar was everywhere and he competed for every inch of ground on offer and some that wasn't...
  
• Jano Vermaak at scrumhalf was a pain in the ass for the Cheetahs all night. Nippy, he opened up ground, made quick service available and delivered the goods
• Numbers 11 - 15 in the backline looked formidable at times. Defensively they need to tighten up on one or two things but that backline can hold its own against most of the big guns.
• Todd Clever - nice impact option and you can see the value he is going to add in the last twenty minutes of a game...
  

So where the hell was the problem??
- Hooker and the locks in the lineout.... The Cheetahs hassled them all night in this area of the game. If you can't find your lineout jumpers then you're in trouble...

- Number 10 - Strip out the two drop goals and some serious questions would be asked of the decision making and marshalling of the troops by Earl Rose and Andre Pretorius.

Early on Rose, was keeping it nice and simple letting his backline go and do what they did best. Then he got it into his head to get too involved in the action with side steps and piling into the rucks and twice he was caught in the scrumhalf position and no first receiver in place...

When Pretorius came on, he seemed to have decided to shut things down with some odd kicks onto the Cheetahs backs who couldn't wait to come running back at them.

(PS as an afterthought, watch that first Cheetahs try again and watch Rose. He backed away from both Smith and Brussow... Not saying I wouldn't have, coz I sure as hell would have but the big flankers will have noted the lack of willingness to slow them up.)

These are the two areas the Lions will need to address rapidly to remain competitive in the tournament...