Writing in The Guardian, Eddie Butler evaluates the Lions' breakdown blues.
"They call this column The Breakdown and it is precisely here that the Lions are finding life hard. Well, obviously not here, as in these words, because that would be silly - but at that zone of doubt that follows the tackle. Or which begins even before the tackle is made.
"You could see the cogs turning in the Lions' minds as they took the ball up into contact. How far am I from support? How quickly do I go to ground and present the ball? How exactly do I present the ball and how is this defender going to tackle me?
"There were signs in the Wednesday night game in Johannesburg against the Golden Lions that the slightly mechanical decision-making processes were giving way to something more instinctive. However undistinguished the challenge of the home side at Ellis Park, there was a fluency to the tourists that suggested they were getting to grips with the breakdown. It had been the curse of the tour in 2005 and it appeared that it was not going to be such a problem in South Africa."
RSS feed
