Despite URC heartbreak, Ivan van Rooyen ‘excited’ about Lions’ future

Despite missing out on the United Rugby Championship playoffs, the Lions can look back at a campaign that will give them confidence ahead of the next instalment of the URC, according to coach Ivan van Rooyen.

The Lions have one more round robin game to play, against Zebre this weekend (at Loftus Versfeld at 1pm on Saturday in a double header that also includes the Bulls against Leinster) but even a bonus point win won’t be enough to get Van Rooyen’s team into the top eight.

Having been pipped at the death by Leinster last Saturday (39-36) to be denied a chance of finishing in the quarter-finals places, the Lions (10th, 40 points) can finish no higher than ninth.

Team growth

Van Rooyen’s men are likely to finish higher then than they did in their first URC campaign though.

In the 2021/22 season, the Lions finished 12th with eight wins and 41 points. An expected win against bottom of the table and winless Zebre will see the Lions end their season with one more win and more log points.

But what has given Van Rooyen more optimism about the future of the Lions in the URC is the growth he has seen in his side since a horrible run midway through the campaign.

At one stage between late December and mid-February the Lions lost five matches in a row and some of them by big margins (Sharks 10-37, Stormers 8-40, Munster 3-33, Connacht 24-43 and Sharks 7-29).

‘Now competitive’

“We lost five games badly at one stage,” said Van Rooyen. “We didn’t score enough tries to get bonus points, but we have been more dynamic on attack (in recent weeks) and scored tries, while our movement has been good and we have created chances.

“There has been massive growth (in the team) … and as sore as I am now, because we had a chance to beat Leinster (on Saturday), and didn’t do it, I am really excited about where we are as a team and where we are going.”

After the five-game horror-run, the Lions turned things around and beat Glasgow Warriors, the Bulls (away) and Benetton (away) to give themselves a shot at making the top eight.

“There has been a lot of development in the team and we are now scoring tries. At one stage we weren’t good enough to beat another South African team, but now we are very competitive. We are much more dynamic now than we were initially.”

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