Posted By Staff Reporter
By Rausim Na
It is a nerve wrecking week especially for the Digicel Cup debutant coaches Michael Moses of Lahanis and Lenard Tarum of Vipers. Both will be biting their fingers and thinking extra hard evaluating all their chances and assessing the strength and weakness of the 17 players that will be taking the field this Sunday at the showdown. Both coaches have done so well enough this season to see their teams playing in their final week of the competition. Both coaches have cool head and are very composed and strictly adhere to set game plans and have great future ahead of them. I was watching very closely on their last encounter 3 weeks ago at PRL when Lahanis came from behind, down 22 nil in the first half to run away in the second half 24-22. It was one of the greatest ever come back that I had ever witnessed in our semi professional competition. What aided Lahanis second half onslaught was the genius of Michel Moses to rotate his interchange during the game which was a telling factor. Vipers had 1 forward, 2 backs and 1 utility on the bench. Lahanis had 4 mobile forwards on the bench. While Tarum was interchanging his bench in the first half, Moses kept a cool head and rested all 3 off his go forward men and rotated only one in the likes of veteran Geroge Aba who was the only one going in and out in the first 40 minutes. The second half was a different version of Lahanis outfit where Moses unleased his potent weapons fresh from the bench who created havoc for the Vipers. Vipers had no answers as the fresh legs kept raiding the Vipers up the middle and the flashy outside backs had a lot of room to mauver. Lahanis also had a game plan to put Larson Marabe out of the game as he was overworked in the first 40 minutes and had no petrol in the second 40 minutes, by then Vipers were gone and had no answers for the Lahanis. It was a strategic move by Moses, the former Kumul fullback by playing his cards right. I am sure the former Kumul dummy half Tarum has learnt his mistake. It was evident with the use of heavy forward artillery which blasted the Gurias off the park and they had on answers for the massive onslaught by the heavier Vipers pack. Few Lahanis were present at the game and I’m sure it would be a different game plan this time around by both coaches. Vipers will be relying on their mobile heavier pack to lay the foundation. They also have a good organiser in Isreal Eliab who has been phenomenal ever since taking on the play making duties. His pin point kicking game accuracy will be an added bonus for the Vipers. Vipers have a good defensive technique in gang and driving tackles which has proven to be effective for the city slickers. If Lahanis is to win this game, their forwards need to run on the fringes to avoid getting bashed up with Vipers gang tackling techniques up the middle which hurt the Tigers earlier and recently Gurias. The next best option is for Lahanis forwards to get on the knees quickly to play the ball without struggling and avoid Vipers’ wrestling techniques. Lahanis has flare and class all over the park especially the Tasim brothers and their second phase play is natural and this will really hurt the Vipers if Vipers do not secure the ball in defence. This game will be the battle of the forwards and the full backs. Both Adex Wera and Joshua Abavu have been in good form. The involvement of the two custodians will be the telling factor of the game. May the best team win... Comments are closed.
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