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Lions eager to take momentum from Ospreys win into Cardiff match
Back at home, Cardiff will want to bounce back with a win against the Lions.
Lions eighthman Franke Horn powers over the line to score against Ospreys in the URC over the past weekend. Picture: Chris Fairweather/Getty Images
The Lions are eager to take the momentum from their upset 28-27 win over Ospreys in Swansea, into their coming United Rugby Championship (URC) match against Cardiff on Friday night.
It was the perfect response after they opened their URC campaign with a 31-15 loss against the Bulls at Ellis Park, and got their three match European tour off to a great start.
Last season the Lions started their four match overseas tour with a win as well, but went on to lose their next three games and it will be important for them not to do the same this time.
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“We are building belief in ourselves, what we are doing, what we tried in pre-season, how we want to play and what we want to represent,” explained Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen after the win.
“So obviously this is a big away win against an unbelievable Ospreys team. It’s good to start the tour with a win.
“We also won the first game against Zebre last year and in the second game against the Scarlets we crashed. So it’s important for us to back it up with a good week of preparation ahead of our game against Cardiff.”
Mixed start
Cardiff have also had a mixed start to the season, having opened their URC campaign with a superb 20-13 home win over Munster, before being thumped 52-24 away by Glasgow Warriors over the past weekend.
Back at home they will want to bounce back against the Lions, but the visitors will be keen to keep building momentum, especially with a tough encounter against Edinburgh in Scotland to end their tour.
“It is going to be a game between two desperate teams. We have a few things that we have to work on ahead of the game, like our set piece consistency and losing the ball on attack,” explained Van Rooyen.
“When we are on attack and we put it together and go through five or six plus phases I think we really look threatening. So it is important for us to be more consistent on attack in keeping the ball and more consistent at our set pieces, which are big focus points for us this week.”
