Coetzee tweaks tactics for Lions clash

20 August 2014 - 02:01 By Craig Ray
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Allister Coetzee during the DHL Western Province training session and press conference at High Performance Centre, Bellville on August 04, 2014 in Cape Town, South Africa.
Allister Coetzee during the DHL Western Province training session and press conference at High Performance Centre, Bellville on August 04, 2014 in Cape Town, South Africa.

Western Province coach Allister Coetzee is both pleased and frustrated by his team after a superb start to the Currie Cup campaign and as they approach their sternest test against the in-form Golden Lions this Saturday.

The Lions top the standings with a maximum 10 points from two games, the same as Western Province. The clash at Newlands pits the two best attacking teams against each other.

Province thrashed the Bulls 41-17 at Newlands last week and the Lions romped home to a 60-19 win over the Eastern Province Kings at Ellis Park.

The Lions have scored 101 points in two games and conceded 32.

Western Province have scored 76 and conceded 33.

While the Lions are moving along seamlessly, Coetzee's team are having issues with discipline and defensive scrumming.

"The most important aspect we discussed at the video session on Monday was discipline.

"We aim to keep it under 10 penalties per game but in round one we conceded 16 penalties against the Kings and three yellow cards, and in round two against the Blue Bulls we conceded 18 penalties and two yellow cards.

"The players are being overeager at times, but the two areas where we gave away too many penalties were defensive scrums and straying offside," the coach said

"That made me angry because in the Bulls game they were often going nowhere on attack, so why did we have to creep up into offside positions and put ourselves under pressure? That was simply lack of discipline.

"Individuals have been picked out and their mistakes were shown to them. Referees have the mindset of escalating offences to collective warnings, which is leading to yellow cards, so the players have to be aware of that."

In terms of the scrumming question, Coetzee thinks some of the problems stem from the engage sequence.

"Defensive scrums were an issue, but there is a fine line between a side deliberately going back and trying to milk a penalty by not wanting to take the hit," he said.

"So, I'm going to get a referee in to our training this week to take us through it again because we need to be clear.

"We know that the Lions are a very good set-piece team and we have to improve. The Lions are also a very good attacking unit, so we have to ensure our defence is up to speed," Coetzee said.

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