Province loss makes Newlands semi a long shot

WESTERN PROVINCE were the architects of their own demise in a 22-9 reverse against the Lions at Newlands on Saturday.

“At one stage I thought the pad around the poles could tackle us,” WP coach Allister Coetzee said after the match. “We had a six-man overlap and we still couldn’t score. It’s not so much that the Lions put us under pressure to force us into making errors, it was us.

“If you look at the stats, we probably have about 22 turnovers and the Lions only made about 9 or 10, so it shows.”

The catalyst for last week’s six-try, 45-21 victory over Griquas was a reversion to percentage tactics that favour territory over possession.

Province stuck with this approach against the defending Currie Cup champions on Saturday, and they consequently spent much of the match on the Lions’ side of the field.

However, a misfiring lineout and a succession of penalties, fumbles and misguided passes undermined their cause.

“Something we’ll all be disappointed with is the amount of unforced errors,” added Coetzee. “I’ve never seen us passing the ball over the touchline (like we did today).

“The Lions showed how you win tight games with discipline and by taking your chances with a level of accuracy. We were the complete opposite.

“In most cases the Lions didn’t even put pressure on us – we turned the ball over ourselves… we put pressure on ourselves.”

Province are indeed under pressure. Coetzee has been outspoken about the importance of the home semifinal perk that comes with a top-two finish, but his team’s current tally of 20 log points leaves them trailing the logleading Lions by eight and the second-placed Sharks by five.

Reducing this deficit is made all the more difficult by the fact that Province do not play either of the teams above them in the final fortnight of the league phase, and their destiny is therefore linked to a slip-up from the Lions or Sharks – coupled with successive wins against the Blue Bulls and Cheetahs.

“It’s not the end of the world, we’re still in this thing,” said the WP coach. “But we’ll have to work hard over the next two weeks.”

It’s a short week for Coetzee who has just four days to prepare his troops for the battle against the Blue Bulls at Loftus Versfeld on Friday.