RUGBY UNION: We must be more clinical, says Burnell

RUGBY UNION: We must be more clinical, says Burnell

10:00am Tuesday 27th August 2013 in Sport

Gordon Ross missed two penalties

LONDON Welsh head coach Justin Burnell demanded greater consistency and focus from his players after their 16-16 draw with Llanelli Scarlets.

Burnell was frustrated to concede a last-gasp converted try after the Exiles had spurned several scoring opportunities and missed nine points with the boot.

“The better the opposition the more clinical you have to be,” said Burnell. “When the opportunities arose, we didn’t take them.

“Against poor sides you can make ten to 20 mistakes, but when you come up against good sides you just can’t afford to do that.

“You’ve got to kick your kicks and that’s a big thing as well.

“We did some magical things and looked a very good side and then within two minutes you can look like an average side. It’s getting that balance right.”

Burnell added: “You want to be going into the start of the season with a couple of results under your belt.

“In the scheme of things, it would be quite easy to say the draw was a fair reflection of the game, but when you’re a coach you look at those missed opportunities.”

The Exiles open their Greene King IPA Championship campaign against Bedford Blues on September 14 after travelling to Henley Hawks on Saturday.

Competition for places is inevitably fierce to be in Burnell’s starting line up at Allianz Park to face the Blues.

“You know what you want out of your team, but people have to prove it as well. I’m looking for consistency within training as well as matches,” said Burnell.

“It wasn’t a case that we only performed for 60 minutes and dropped off for the last 20 – we performed in patches. We’d go from good to poor quite easily.

“It’s about consistency because when we were good we very good, and when we were bad we were very bad.”

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RUGBY UNION: We must be more clinical, says Burnell