HIS tactical blunder, Lions coach Johan Ackermann admits, helped cost them victory in their Currie Cup opener against the Cheetahs at Ellis Park on Saturday.

Just as his side launched a stirring rearguard action, Ackermann replaced flyhalf Marnitz Boshoff with Elton Jantjies and the latter missed two conversions before the Lions ran out of time in a 30-29 defeat.

"Marnitz made one or two errors in defence and we felt Elton is strong in that position and had fresh legs," Ackermann explained.

"We didn't know one kick would decide the game."

He conceded that he could have rearranged the deck chairs better.

"The mistake we made was not moving him to fullback, a mistake from my side. But at the end of the day we had enough opportunity to win the game," reminded the coach.

With his side up against it for most of the match, Ackermann was emboldened by the great fighting qualities his charges displayed in the final quarter.

"There was a lot of character out there. Some of them just got better and better as the game wore on. I think we can build on this performance if the guys can keep their focus," said Ackermann.

The events of the last 20 minutes, however, left Cheetahs coach Naka Drotske exasperated.

"In this competition you have to play for 80 minutes. Last year we lost three or four games like this and we had to play [in a] relegation [and promotion] play-off. I'd say the score wasn't a fair reflection of the game but we could also have lost the game in the last 10 minutes. It was a big frustration because in the first half we did everything well, except finishing."

The Cheetahs coach said that a lack of time to fully integrate the new players almost cost them the match.

"We played the Brumbies, lost some players to Griquas and then our Springboks. I had to give the other guys two weeks off and we had five or six new players with only one week to prepare."