Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen has delivered a stinging assessment of his side’s third consecutive Vodacom URC defeat.
The Lions suffered a 41-15 loss to Benetton in Treviso that left Van Rooyen visibly frustrated with his team’s inability to convert dominance into points.
The Joburg-based outfit showed moments of promise and looked physically imposing for large parts of the contest, but a string of unforced errors, missed lineouts and soft defensive lapses once again proved costly.
“I think it was a game of huge missed opportunities from our side,” Van Rooyen said. “We felt we were physically dominant, but we couldn’t convert that dominance. I felt two of their tries came directly from skill errors and they ran 70 or 80m to go score. We also missed two crucial lineouts 5m from their tryline.”
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The Lions had their chances – particularly in the first half, when their pack took control at set-piece time – but each time they built pressure, handling mistakes or decision-making errors gifted possession back to their opponents.
“In attack, we managed to put them under a lot more pressure,” Van Rooyen continued. “I think the connection between the forwards and the backs was better this week and we looked a little bit more threatening. But unfortunately too many errors gave them the ball back and we know one of their strengths is the counter-attack.”
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Van Rooyen didn’t hold back when assessing his side’s defence either, lamenting a lack of composure and focus in key moments.
“Defensively, just too many individual errors. Some sets and phases we really looked good and dominated them. But then through an individual error or a decision-making error, they get momentum and you’re on the back foot and under pressure.”
The result leaves the Lions second from bottom on the URC log after the opening three rounds, and facing a defining few weeks to turn their campaign around, starting with a must-win fixture against fellow stragglers the Scarlets at Ellis Park.
Photo: Timothy Rogers/Getty Images
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