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Lions must react now to end their downward spiral
The most disappointing aspect of the Lions' disastrous recent form is the lack of fight shown by the team.
The Lions and Sharks in action during their URC clash at Ellis Park last week. Picture: Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images
The Lions are on a downward spiral in the United Rugby Championship (URC) with seemingly no end in sight.
After punching above their weight during the first half of the season, they were sitting in fifth place on the log with five wins from eight games in early December.
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However, since then they have lost their last five URC matches in a row, tumbling down the table to 14th place.
Their most recent defeat came last week when they were soundly beaten 29-7 at Ellis Park by a Sharks team without any of their current Springbok stars.
It was the Lions 10th straight loss against South African teams, having lost their last four games against the Sharks and last three games each against the Stormers and Bulls.
In most teams this would constitute a crisis, but it seems like the Lions management is just continuing on as is, with no interest in addressing their problems.
Head coach Ivan van Rooyen has reportedly even been offered a two-year contract extension that would see him paid more than current URC champion Stormers coach John Dobson.
Lack of fight
The most disappointing aspect of the Lions’ disastrous recent form is the lack of fight shown by the team.
In their five straight URC losses the Lions have managed just one bonus point, for scoring four tries against Connacht
They have suffered massive losing margins of 27 against the Sharks and 32 against the Stormers in December, 30 against Munster and 19 against Connacht in January, and then by 22 points against the Sharks over the past weekend.
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The margins of those defeats show they had absolutely no chance in any of those games, and it is going to take a monumental shift in form and belief from the team and management to turn things around during their final five games of the season.
They face Glasgow Warriors, who will be without their internationals who are on Six Nations duty, at Ellis Park on Saturday, followed by a derby against the Bulls at Loftus, an away game against Benetton in Italy and then two home matches against Leinster and Zebre to end their season.
On the Lions current form their only sure win should be against bottom feeders Zebre, while they will lose against the other four teams if there is not a drastic improvement.
