The Lions face two must-win home games against Scarlets and Ulster next, after a dismal winless overseas URC tour to start their season.
The Lions are in massive strife after a dismal first United Rugby Championship (URC) tour of the season saw them return home with no wins, just one point, and were sent off with a record 41-15 hammering from Benetton in Treviso on Saturday.
It has left them languishing in 15th place on the log, with just Scarlets, who are their next opponents, below them, while the Welsh side have played a game less because one of their matches was postponed due to a storm.
The most worrying thing for the Lions is that their tour was against teams that they should be challenging, and beating, if they realistically want to achieve their goal of making the URC top eight for the first time and reach the playoffs.
Instead they suffered three defeats against teams that finished in the bottom half of the URC table last season, going down 33-20 against Cardiff (ninth last season), and 22-20 against Zebre (15th), followed by their heavy loss to Benetton (10th).
Heavy fire
Head coach Ivan van Rooyen was already under heavy fire at the end of last season, after his side finished their fourth straight season without a top eight finish, and it is now intensifying again, especially with his post match comments not inspiring any sort of introspection.
After every defeat so far he has bandied about the same excuses, with his latest after the Benetton loss being: “We made too many errors at crucial times. I think we had two five metre lineouts that we missed.
“We had two carries into their 22m, where we conceded turnover ball and they scored from both. So I think we created enough opportunities, we just weren’t clinical enough.
“It’s tough to tour. It will be nice to get back home. We will arrive on Monday and then again, we play Scarlets and Ulster in the next two, so important for us to get back safely, regroup and re-energise and then attack those two games.”
Battered and bruised
The Lions now return to South Africa, thoroughly battered and bruised, with the unenviable task of trying to drag themselves off the turf, and win their next two games going into the international break.
They are perhaps lucky that they face Scarlets first up, which is arguably their best chance of getting points on the board and getting their season up and running.
But it is certainly not a definite win, as they showed five months ago, at the end of last season, desperately needing a win against them at Ellis Park, only to flop to a 32-19 defeat.
The coaching staff thus has a monumental task on their hands to lift the team and get them ready for a game that could end with them heading into a disastrous spiral over the rest of the competition.
If they can beat Scarlets, that will give them a boost to take into their clash against Ulster, who they comfortably beat at home last season, but who have shown they will be a dangerous side this time round, after a big 28-7 home win over the high flying Bulls this weekend.
But if the Lions lose to Scarlets, they could head into the November international break with five straight losses, and in dire straits very early in the season.
