Eloff: 'Lost opportunities and soft tries'
Tue, 14 Oct 2008 18:53
Lions coach Eugene Eloff will work on his team's two main weaknesses - lost opportunities and conceding soft tries - when they start preparations for next year's Super 14.
The Lions are on a two-week break after their elimination from the Currie Cup competition last Saturday, but Eloff said they will have a look at the soft tries they gave away when they regroup on November 3.
Eloff, in his weekly column on the Lions' website, said that he was proud of his players for both their Super 14 and Currie Cup performances.
"Next year is our third Super 14 together and Year Three of building a great team. I believe things will come together for us and that 2009 is going to be a great year."
He felt it was truly a season of lost opportunities.
The Lions in the Super 14 ended last on the standings, but it could have been so different if they had taken their chances towards the end of many of their 13 matches.
In
the Currie Cup, Eloff feels, the high was beating the Blue Bulls at Loftus, while the loss in the semifinal to the Sharks was one of the lows - attributed to letting in soft tries and not finishing their own attacks with more tries.
Despite this, only the Blue Bulls (61) and the Sharks (57) score more tries than the Lions' 55 in the pool phases of the competition.
However, of the top five sides their 36 tries conceded is easily the most.
Their six matches lost in the league phases were against the Sharks (twice), the Blue Bulls (once), the Free State (twice) and Western Province (once).
