Lions back-up brigade praised by Van Rooyen after roaring in France

The Lions will be extremely satisfied with a superb performance from their back-up brigade as they kicked off their Challenge Cup campaign with an impressive 28-12 win over USA Perpignan in France over the weekend.

It was always going to be a tricky game as not a single starter from the Lions’ United Rugby Championship (URC) win over Dragons a week earlier made the trip to Europe for the opening match.

Rising talent Jordan Hendrikse returned to the starting line-up, having been unseated recently by Sanele Nohamba, and put in a man-of-the-match performance with a haul of 23 points thanks to seven penalties and a conversion.

Experienced campaigners Jaco Visagie, Corne Fourie and Andries Coetzee also put in strong performances to help guide the team to a superb win.

But it is the experience gained by a large number of players who were playing in Europe for the first time that will have pleased the coach as the Lions look to build important depth in their squad.

International club debuts

Seven players ended up making international club debuts in the game, namely locks Etienne Oosthuizen, Raynard Roets and Izan Esterhuizen,  centre Erich Cronje, wing Boldwin Hansen, prop Conraad van Vuuren and scrumhalf Johan Mulder.

Due to many of the players having not played together before, Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen said they kept their game plan as simple as possible so they could try and get the best result out of the game, which they managed to do in the end.

“We obviously kept it quite simple. We almost played Test match rugby. It was a little bit boring from our side, but we felt that was how we were going to get the win,” explained Van Rooyen.

“We had a lot of debutants in Europe and for the team, so we were absolutely delighted to get the win.”