Conservative approach pays off for Lions, says team leadership

Stand-in Lions captain Jaco Visagie said it was “important” for his team to pull off a 26-7 win against Connacht in the United Rugby Championship at Ellis Park on Saturday.

The victory snapped a five-match losing run for the Joburg side.

Thanks to their seventh win in 16 matches, the Lions moved up one spot on the URC points table, to 13th, while Connacht, dropped to 14th.

With two regular season matches remaining before the playoffs are contested, the Lions have a slim chance of still reaching the top eight to feature in the quarter-finals. They have 35 log points, while the team currently in eighth, Benetton, have 41.

The Lions’ final two games of the league phase are against Scarlets, who shocked Leinster on Saturday, and Ospreys, who beat the Dragons in their last outing.

‘Mood down’

“The last few weeks have been difficult,” said Visagie, who is standing in as skipper in place of the injured Francke Horn, after the win.

“The morale was low after the recent defeats and the mood a bit down. This was an important win.”

Both Visagie and coach Ivan van Rooyen said the Lions had taken a conscious decision to play a more conservative, structured game against the Irish side.

“We needed to eliminate all the errors we’ve been making recently,” said Visagie, “and that’s why we decided to be a bit more conservative in this game.”

Conservative approach

Van Rooyen added: “We had a conversation in the week about being more conservative and everyone just doing their job well. It paid off.

“There were less errors today and the discipline was better. There was better accuracy and we kicked better as well.

“It was a good performance after the week we had, with so many injuries among the loose forwards and the changes we made.”

Van Rooyen was forced into changing his back row with Horn out and Siba Qoma going down in the week. He also picked rookie centre Bronson Mills in a new-look midfield with Henco van Wyk.