Ledesma: We weren’t playing our style of footy
REACTION: Jaguares head coach Mario Ledesma said his team made life very easy for the Lions in the first half of their Super Rugby quarterfinal in Johannesburg.
The Argentinians lost 23-40 at Ellis Park in what was their first-ever play-off match in the competition. At half-time they were down 9-24 after the Lions ran in three tries. However, in the in the second half the Jaguares fought their way back to within four points of the hosts before the Lions pulled away once again.
Ledesma said his team struggled to find their rhythm in the first 40 minutes.
“That was the difference at the end of the game. I felt they didn’t have to work too hard to score those tries, especially the interception.
“We gave them away, we weren’t’ playing our style of footy. We were just too loose on the ball, we were not accurate from line-outs and scrums.
“We weren’t too clinical in the first half and despite that, 20 minutes into the second half we were four points behind and we had a maul five metres away [from the tryline] and then they stole the ball in a ruck and then they did it again.
“I felt we had the chances, especially at 27-23, but it’s always difficult to come from behind especially here at altitude.”
Despite the defeat, the Jaguares enjoyed their most successful season in Super Rugby and Ledesma, who took over the coaching reins at the end of 2017, has put it down to his team’s increased workload behind the scenes.
“I think we were building on that confidence throughout the year just through work and that work started impacting on our belief too and then when you start believing everything gets easier.
“The first thing we did was work much more than in the years before and then the work started paying off and the players started buying into the system too and I reckon we played good games this year.
“We didn’t start very well, especially over here in South Africa. We lost four games in a row and then we won one, we lost one and then we did seven in a row. It was a good run [to the play-offs],” Ledesma added.
By Warren Fortune
@FortuneWarren
@rugby365com
