Lions have ‘small things’ to work on for URC date with Glasgow Warriors

The Lions face one more difficult task on their incredibly challenging overseas tour when they take on Glasgow Warriors in their United Rugby Championship (URC) match in Scotland on Friday night before their players can finally get home to their families.

It was already set to be a very tough first tour of the season for the Joburg side, before the sudden heartbreaking loss of teammate Hyron Andrews at the team hotel ahead of their first ever Champions Cup match against La Rochelle in France a week and a half ago.

The players were then left with the unimaginably difficult decision of either forfeiting the game or playing in his honour, which in the end they chose to do, before bravely going down against their gracious French hosts.

They have since played one URC game, against Edinburgh last Friday, which they lost 31-10, and this week face Glasgow, former competition winners and unbeaten this season, with three wins and a draw.

Tough assessment

Speaking about their performance against Edinburgh, Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen admitted they weren’t at their best, but did get a few things right.

“On defence we made three fatal mistakes that resulted in points, and on attack we couldn’t really build momentum or hold on to the ball for long enough. The one or two times we actually did that well, Batho (Hlekani) scored a nice try,” explained Van Rooyen.

“In attack, we lost a bit of shape as well. We didn’t really get momentum early on, and that makes it difficult in these (wet) conditions. If you don’t get momentum, it’s difficult to generate momentum, and then you have to go into a kicking game and hope to get the ball back or hope for a favourable outcome. So there are a lot of small things we need to work on and focus on.

“There were some missed opportunities and it was a little bit inaccurate from us. Just before halftime we had a big opportunity (to take a lead into the break), and didn’t capitalise.

“Another set piece and we didn’t capitalise that side, and I think they had three crucial breakdown turnovers where we just lost the ball in attack in the scoring zone. So it was a little bit sloppy, but I think we did play the circumstances well.”

Glasgow will be happy to be back at home, after they needed a last gasp try to sneak a 24-20 win over Benetton in Italy over the past weekend, and will be confident against the Lions, who will need to show tremendous character in their last tour game before the November international break.