‘Not the best year’: Lions aim to grow after tough 2021 season

The Lions are looking to get their year off to the best possible start when they take on the Sharks in their United Rugby Championship match at Ellis Park at 3pm on Saturday.

It was a challenging 2021 for the Johannesburg side, but they ended it on a high note with a big URC win over the Stormers and now look to start it on the same note against a strong Sharks team.

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“In all honesty 2021 was not the best year for us, so our intention is to be a lot better this year,” said Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen.

“We have been steadily growing on tour and post tour, so it is a good opportunity to keep the momentum going this weekend.

“We want to perform well as a team. I think if we focus on ourselves and our process and be clinical in what we want to do, the result will look after itself.”

Home support

Captain Burger Odendaal was looking forward to the union’s first home game of their URC campaign and was excited to finally play in front of some home fans.

“I think all the guys are really excited to play on our own pitch again and have a couple of fans in the stadium,” said Odendaal.

“Going forward we just want to build up some momentum. I think we had a great game against the Stormers last time out and hopefully we can keep that momentum going this weekend.”

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A big forwards battle will be on the cards in the match, with the powerful Lions front row set to be challenged by a strong Sharks front three, featuring Springbok props Ox Nche and Thomas du Toit.

“I think it’s going to be a very good battle up front at scrum and lineout time, so I think the team that normally dominates tends to come out victorious,” said Van Rooyen.

“So both front rows are proud, honest hard-working packs and the dominant pack could potentially come up trumps.

“The idea would be to get good quality ball from our set-piece, while disrupting the opposition at theirs, and that’s going to be the same for both packs in the game.”