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Lions coach left fuming after 'totally unacceptable' performance
By RugbyPass
Lions head coach Swys de Bruin has expressed his feelings after a 'bitterly disappointing' loss to the Highlanders at the weekend.
The Lions, beaten finalists in the past two seasons, suffered their third consecutive loss - going down to Highlanders in Dunedin.
Although they trailed throughout, the visitors were in with a chance to snatch a late win when a Marnus Schoeman try narrowed the gap to 27-33 with seven minutes remaining.
However, Highlanders flyhalf Lima Sopoaga landed two penalties for a 19-point match haul and a 39-27 win.
The Lions till top the South African conference on 31 points from 12 matches.
Three sides are sitting on 24 points - seven behind the leaders, the Lions.
The Stormers' 9-15 loss to the Chiefs has made life very difficult for them in the remainder of the season.
The Bulls proved the biggest beneficiaries of a round in which they were the only South African side to win. They beat the Sharks 39-33 in Pretoria to be ninth and 10th respectively - while ahead of them are the Jaguares, who had the bye at the weekend.
As things stand the Jaguares would be the second side from the Conference to make the playoffs.
The Bulls travel to Argentina to play the Jaguares this coming weekend, while the Sharks are host to the Chiefs - both are key games for each of the sides concerned.
The Lions return home from New Zealand to host the Brumbies.
The Lions coach, Swys de Bruin, said he was "bitterly disappointed" with the team's final tour match and admitted he will have to "rethink" the entire set-up.
De Bruin, who momentarily forgot how many tries his team scored, said he can't understand how his team could not win the game.
He added that they conceded too many 'soft' tries.
"It is just not good enough and totally unacceptable," the coach said.
"We just have to get home an rethink the situation and take stock.
"I don't have much to say."
Courtesy of @rugby365
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Latest Comments
The England backs can't be that dumb, he has been playing on and off for the last couple of years. If they are too slow to keep up with him that's another matter.
He was the only thing stopping England from getting their arses handed to them in the Aussie game. If you can't fit a player with that skill set into an England team then they are stuffed.
Go to commentsSteve Borthwick appointment was misguided based on two flawed premises.
1. An overblown sense of the quality of the premiership rugby. The gap between the Premiership and Test rugby is enormous
2. England needed an English coach who understood English Rugby and it's traditional strengths.
SB won the premiership and was an England forward and did a great job with the Japanese forwards but neither of those qualify you as a tier 1 test manager.
Maybe Felix Jones and Aled Walter's departures are down to the fact that SB is a details man, which work at club level but at test level you need the manager to manage and let the coaches get on and do what they are employed for.
SB criticism of players is straight out of Eddie Jones playbook but his loyalty to keeping out of form players borne out of his perceived sense of betrayal as a player.
In all it doesn't stack up as the qualities needed to be a modern Test coach /Manager
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