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The Lions secured a 35-19 bonus-point win over the Ospreys at Ellis Park, but coach Ivan van Rooyen warned his team must improve for next Saturday's Jukskei derby against the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld.
The Lions secured a 35-19 bonus-point victory over the Ospreys at Ellis Park on Saturday, but coach Ivan van Rooyen immediately warned that his team must raise the bar significantly for next Saturday's Jukskei derby against the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld.
The win gave the Johannesburg-based side nine log points from their opening two United Rugby Championship matches. That followed a 27-26 away victory over champions Leinster the previous week. Van Rooyen was in no mood to get carried away after his side overcame an error-ridden first half to score five tries after the break, having trailed 12-10 at half-time. Today's performance won't be enough against the Bulls next week, he said.
Coach Warns Lions Must Raise Bar
It's a typical derby, so it's going to be massive set-piece, huge physicality. The Bulls have shown that they want to play a little bit more, which makes them dangerous, but there's also opportunity. The Lions found themselves behind at the interval after an untidy opening 40 minutes. Van Rooyen pointed to early lineout losses that prevented the team from building momentum and executing their planned approach.
The Ospreys are tough, they're nuggety, they've got great character, and they will keep on coming back and keep on going if you're inaccurate, Van Rooyen said. We weren't accurate enough. We lost some early lineouts, then you can't build momentum and you can't apply what we wanted to do in terms of plans. At half-time we really simplified and just said, Find a way.
Forwards Take Responsibility for Scoring
We believe there's a little bit of a crack, let's go there and see if we can exploit it. It was a lot better in the second half, and I'm really proud of the guys for just finding a way. Captain Francke Horn explained how the team adjusted at the break. He said the players recognised that their wide game was not working and decided the forwards needed to take responsibility for generating scores through mauls.
We came in at half-time and said, Listen, it's not working out wide for us today, and sometimes that does happen, Horn said. The forwards said we need to roll up our sleeves and make sure we get some maul tries. If we have to go scrum, penalty, kick out, maul, penalty, kick out again and then score from a maul, that's what we're going to do. And that's how we started the second half.
Van den Berg Helps Lions Overturn Deficit
That pragmatic approach of using scrums, penalties, kicks to touch and driving mauls produced the tries that turned the game in the second half. A dominant scrum and the game-changing introduction of Springbok scrumhalf Morne van den Berg helped the Lions overturn the deficit. The Lions will draw confidence from last season's 43-33 victory over the Bulls in Pretoria, but Van Rooyen expects a substantially different challenge this time.
Last year, when we played them there, it was part of their transition period, he said. I think it will be very different this year. They've got some real speed out wide, they've got some good pack of forwards and grunt upfront. I think it will be a very different challenge.
Springboks May Start Against Bulls
There's one or two things we can draw from that, but we won't be blind to know that it's a new week, new opportunity and different game. The Lions could also have two returning Springboks available from the start against the Bulls, with scrumhalf Morne van den Berg and utility back Quan Horn both making second-half appearances against the Ospreys. Van Rooyen indicated that it would be no surprise to see both in the starting XV.
Probably, he said when asked whether both would start. The returns will create healthy selection headaches, particularly after Boeta Chamberlain and Nico Steyn impressed during the Lions' opening two matches. I think Boeta has been a breath of fresh air for us; I think he's been exceptional in the two games, and he can play multiple positions for us, Van Rooyen said. Nico is also probably playing the rugby of his life, so it's good, healthy competition for us.
With nine points from two matches, the Lions have made an ideal start to their campaign. But Van Rooyen knows the next test at Loftus Versfeld will tell him far more about where his team stands. Accuracy will be massive, he said. It's a typical derby, so it's going to be massive set-piece and huge physicality.
We'll take the five points, but we've got to get better because next week is going to demand it. The match at Loftus Versfeld is set for next Saturday and will provide an early test of whether the Lions can sustain their promising start to the URC season.
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IOL:This story was compiled and edited by the HeadTopics newsroom and HT AI from the reports above.
Lions Ivan Van Rooyen Bulls Loftus Versfeld Ospreys United Rugby Championship Ellis Park Jukskei Derby
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