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It is another season of disappointment for the Lions as they miss out on the URC playoffs again, and compounded that with a poor loss against Scarlets.
Lions players react with disappointment after slipping to a poor 32-19 defeat in their URC match against Scarlets at Ellis Park on Sunday. Picture: Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images
Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen bemoaned inconsistency and individual errors after his side produced a dismal performance to go down 32-19 to Welsh side Scarlets in their United Rugby Championship (URC) clash at Ellis Park on Sunday afternoon.
The match was a bit of a dead rubber for the hosts as they had already been knocked out of the running for a place in the URC playoffs when Munster on Friday and Benetton on Saturday picked up crucial wins that made it impossible for them to make it.
But instead of a statement performance to set them up to finish the season on a high, they produced an insipid display to suffer a first home defeat against the Welsh side, having beaten them 24-23 in Llanelli last year, and 32-15 at Ellis Park the previous year, while Scarlets won their first outing.
The Lions still have a chance to end their season well, with a win over Ospreys in their final pool match, but it will be a far cry from the top four finish that Van Rooyen said they were targeting at the start of the season and is now the fourth straight campaign for them not reaching the knockouts.
Heading into their end of season run the Lions knew they had to win all of their final four home matches to give themselves a shot of making the playoffs, but they went down to Benetton, before bouncing back well against Connacht, but crashed against Scarlets.
“We felt we had four home games and we felt if we could win all of them, there was a real opportunity to end anywhere from six to eight. To lose two of the three currently is frustrating,” said Van Rooyen after the Scarlets game.
“We are really proud of who we are and we want to make Ellis Park a really tough place to play. So I’m really disappointed with those results. It’s a short week for us, we have to get ready for Ospreys.”
Van Rooyen pointed to individual errors and accuracy as key reasons for the Lions defeat against Scarlets, claiming that the team weren’t unmotivated despite having been knocked out of the playoff hunt a day earlier.
“I don’t think they wanted it more, I just think they were more accurate than us. Too many errors (from us), (and) again an easy try from them,” explained Van Rooyen.
“They probably won the breakdown battle today, and because of our errors they dictated the tempo of the game.”
Regardless of how they end the season this coming Saturday against Ospreys, the Lions face a lot of introspection over the coming months and after four straight seasons of disappointment, changes may need to be made to try and improve their fortunes.
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