GALWAY, IRELAND: Marius Louw of Emirates Lions during the United Rugby Championship match between Connacht and Emirates Lions at The Sportsground on January 28, 2023 in Galway, Ireland. (Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile/Gallo Images)
After a potentially damaging four week European Tour the Lions are ready to hit the reset button and refocus on chasing a top eight finish in the United Rugby Championship (URC).
The Lions were hammered 43-24 by Connacht in Galway on Saturday night, to end their tour with three losses and just one win, after losing their URC game at the start of the month against Munster, before losing to Stade Francais and then beating the Dragons in the Challenge Cup.
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Lions assistant coach Jaque Fourie admitted that it was a tough four games on the road traveling around Europe and that the team is happy to finally return home so that they can rest and refocus ahead of a five game run of home matches.
“Being on the road has been really tough, but those were the cards we were dealt. I don’t think (this schedule) will happen again, it was just due to Worcester Warriors that fell out of the Challenge Cup because of financial implications,” explained Fourie.
“So the guys are happy to go back home now. We have to press the reset button and we have four or five games at Ellis Park that we need to win if we want to be contenders in the top eight of the URC.”
Speaking about the Connacht loss, which ended the tour on a low note after the Lions had broken a four game losing streak the week before against Dragons, Fourie claimed that the home side’s higher skill level had the Lions in disarray.
“They kept the ball really nicely and their skill level is really, really high. If you give them time and space to run at you, then you are going to chase your tail all night, and that is what we did,” said Fourie.
“We didn’t play in the right areas of the field where they did. We led quite early 10-8 but when they got rolling, they looked really good with the ball in hand. If you give them time and space behind you, they are a tough team to stop.”
With the Lions having lost their last four URC games, they have slipped to 13th place on the log, and will need to win probably five of their last six matches in the competition to stand any chance of reaching the play-offs.
The have home matches against the Sharks, Glasgow Warriors, Leinster and Zebre, and away games against the Bulls and Benetton, which is a tough run in and they will have to lift their game remarkably if they want to beat a number of those teams.