The Lions are counting the cost of their shock defeat to the Blues at Ellis Park on Saturday.
Captain Warren Whiteley left the field injured in the first half and will be ruled out of action for the next few weeks with knee ligament damage.
It is a blow for the Lions as well as the player who is hoping to re-establish himself after recovering from a crippling groin injury last year.
“It seems like a grade one PCL‚ which is not too serious. Perhaps only a couple of weeks (unavailable)‚” said Whiteley who appeared more downcast about the dramatic 38-35 defeat than the injury.
“I’m walking fine and there is no pain. It just feels a bit unstable. The doctor said my PCL felt a bit loose.”
Coach Swys de Bruin was most displeased in the aftermath of the shock defeat.
When asked whether his side was perhaps complacent following three wins at the start of the competition De Bruin said: “Definitely. We are human. We will turn this around into a positive.”
Whiteley was brutal in his assessment of what transpired after the Lions led 28-10 after 54 minutes.
“I can’t remember when last we were that poor in the last 20 minutes.
“It is disappointing because our strength is the last 20 minutes. That’s when they took the game away from us. We would have learned a lot of lessons from this‚” said Whiteley.
“Perhaps we felt a bit of pressure. It got a bit frantic and I thought we got a bit loose. We started giving too much possession away and we weren’t clinical enough.
"I thought we weren’t direct enough. We didn’t stick to our strengths. If we kept it a bit tighter we would have got a lot more reward.”
It was surprising that the Lions played into the Blues hands‚ especially after they so masterfully avoided the same trap against the Bulls at Loftus a week earlier.
Without Whiteley the Lions lacked composure as the Blues cranked up the heat.
“Warren is one of a kind and a fantastic leader but the other guys must stand up‚” said De Bruin.
“The spine of our team is made up of Springboks. There are other leaders in the team. It is no excuse. When you score five tries you should win the game‚” said De Bruin.
“We battled all day to protect our ball. They are a very dangerous side when it comes to turnovers.
"They were quick at the breakdown. In the end it was a game of margins but we’ve got to close games down. That’s life.”
De Bruin also reflected on the bigger picture.
“We had a chance to go top of the log and go ahead of everyone. We didn’t. The Crusaders lost. Big teams lost. The race is on.”
Lions counting the cost of their shock defeat to the Blues at Ellis Park
The Lions are counting the cost of their shock defeat to the Blues at Ellis Park on Saturday.
Captain Warren Whiteley left the field injured in the first half and will be ruled out of action for the next few weeks with knee ligament damage.
It is a blow for the Lions as well as the player who is hoping to re-establish himself after recovering from a crippling groin injury last year.
“It seems like a grade one PCL‚ which is not too serious. Perhaps only a couple of weeks (unavailable)‚” said Whiteley who appeared more downcast about the dramatic 38-35 defeat than the injury.
“I’m walking fine and there is no pain. It just feels a bit unstable. The doctor said my PCL felt a bit loose.”
Coach Swys de Bruin was most displeased in the aftermath of the shock defeat.
When asked whether his side was perhaps complacent following three wins at the start of the competition De Bruin said: “Definitely. We are human. We will turn this around into a positive.”
Whiteley was brutal in his assessment of what transpired after the Lions led 28-10 after 54 minutes.
“I can’t remember when last we were that poor in the last 20 minutes.
“It is disappointing because our strength is the last 20 minutes. That’s when they took the game away from us. We would have learned a lot of lessons from this‚” said Whiteley.
“Perhaps we felt a bit of pressure. It got a bit frantic and I thought we got a bit loose. We started giving too much possession away and we weren’t clinical enough.
"I thought we weren’t direct enough. We didn’t stick to our strengths. If we kept it a bit tighter we would have got a lot more reward.”
It was surprising that the Lions played into the Blues hands‚ especially after they so masterfully avoided the same trap against the Bulls at Loftus a week earlier.
Without Whiteley the Lions lacked composure as the Blues cranked up the heat.
“Warren is one of a kind and a fantastic leader but the other guys must stand up‚” said De Bruin.
“The spine of our team is made up of Springboks. There are other leaders in the team. It is no excuse. When you score five tries you should win the game‚” said De Bruin.
“We battled all day to protect our ball. They are a very dangerous side when it comes to turnovers.
"They were quick at the breakdown. In the end it was a game of margins but we’ve got to close games down. That’s life.”
De Bruin also reflected on the bigger picture.
“We had a chance to go top of the log and go ahead of everyone. We didn’t. The Crusaders lost. Big teams lost. The race is on.”
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