A confident Lions team will still need to step up, despite a good start to the season, when they cross the Jukskei to face the Bulls on Saturday.
Lions coach Ivan Van Rooyen says the team has to improve, despite their good start to the season, if they are to challenge the Bulls in their URC match at Loftus on Saturday. Picture: Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images
The Lions have built up some good momentum from a winning start to the United Rugby Championship (URC) season, but will still need to up their game when they cross the Jukskei to take on their closest rivals, the Bulls, in their first local derby of the season at Loftus on Saturday.
A strong 35-19 win over the Ospreys at Ellis Park over the past weekend complimented their 27-26 opening win against URC defending champions Leinster the previous week.
But neither performance was perfect, with the Lions trailing both teams at halftime, before improved second half performances powered them over the line. However, that is not something they can continue relying on, especially against a Bulls outfit that can match them physically.
“Accuracy will be massive. It’s a typical derby, so it’s going to be a massive set-piece (battle), and huge physicality,” said Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen after their win over Ospreys.
“The Bulls have shown that they want to play a little bit more, which makes them dangerous, but there is also opportunity (for the Lions). We’ve looked a little bit at them, but today’s [Saturday’s] performance won’t be enough against the Bulls.”
Last season the Lions started with three defeats on tour overseas, before returning to SA, built some momentum with two home wins and then stunned the Bulls at Loftus.
This season they head into the game with similar momentum, but find themselves up against a different Bulls team, who at this stage last season were struggling, whereas they beat Zebre comfortably away in their opener and just slipped to defeat against Munster over the weekend.
Transition period
“Last year when we played them there, it was part of their transition period (with new coach Johan Ackermann). I think it will be very different this year. Even though they are travelling back (from Ireland), their squad depth is good enough to manage that,” explained Van Rooyen.
“They’ve got some real speed out wide, they’ve got a good pack of forwards and grunt upfront. I think it will be a very different challenge.
“There’s one or two things we can draw from that (win), but we won’t be blind to know that it’s a new week, new opportunity and different game.”
Speaking about the match against Ospreys, where the Lions led 10-0 in the 28th minute, before being pegged back to 12-10 down at halftime, and then running in five tries in the second half to power to the win, Van Rooyen highlighted their need for better accuracy.
“The Ospreys are tough, they’re nuggety, they’ve got great character, and they will keep on coming back and keep on going if you’re inaccurate,” explained Van Rooyen.
“We weren’t accurate enough. We lost some early lineouts, then you can’t build momentum and you can’t apply what we wanted to do in terms of plans.
“At half-time we really simplified and just said, ‘find a way’. We believe there’s a little bit of a crack, let’s go there and see if we can exploit it. It was a lot better in the second half, and I’m really proud of the guys for just finding a way.”
