RUGBY
Mike Greenaway|Published
The Lions face a demanding three-week tour of Europe, starting against La Rochelle in the Champions Cup before back-to-back United Rugby Championship assignments in Scotland against Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors.
It is a tough road trip after the Bulls shattered their confidence by handing them a 57-15 hiding at Loftus Versfeld. The Lions’ opening two URC performances at Ellis Park had raised expectations, but an eight-try demolition exposed some uncomfortable shortcomings.
Coach Ivan van Rooyen and captain Francke Horn admit it is time to sink or swim.
“I think it’s up to us to make a decision. We can really sulk about this, or we can collectively pull in and make a decision,” Van Rooyen said.
“But there’s no decision to be made. It’s just to get collectively back on the horse and jump on the plane and go fight that battle.”
Horn believes his team’s slow starts in all three of their URC matches have been a significant part of the problem, and the Bulls punished them ruthlessly.
“If you give the Bulls 31 points in the first half, with three tries that didn’t go past two phases, that puts you under pressure,” Horn said.
“That forces you to try things, and you try harder, but sometimes the easy solution is in fact to try less and just do your job better.”
Horn warned against allowing one disastrous afternoon to derail the Lions’ season, insisting the squad had the character to respond. He said the Lions cannot let the walloping define them.
“It would be a shame if the one result determines the whole of the next seven months,” he said.
“Knowing the team and knowing the guys that we have, it won’t happen.
“We just need to be more focused, more clinical. And if things go a bit bad, just calm down and get cool heads and don’t try harder, if that makes sense.”
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