Lions defence plan finally coming together — Jaque Fourie

After a strong defensive showing during the final 10 minutes of their win over Ospreys over the past weekend, Lions defence coach Jaque Fourie admitted that the systems put in place last season were finally beginning to build towards fruition.

Although the Lions have conceded eight tries in their opening two games, it was their tenacious defence in the closing moments of the Ospreys game that impressed as they managed to hold on for a precious one point win in the second round of the new United Rugby Championship season.

“Looking back to last season I think we are 100% better than we were then (on defence). This is our second season in the system and I think the guys are only now getting to grips with the system and understanding it the way us as coaches want them to understand it,” said Fourie.

“We have been putting a lot of time into it. Twenty percent of the game is set piece and 80% is unstructured, so we are spending a lot of time on unstructured defence and 20% on vacuum defence and lineout defence.

“The rest is just defending what’s in front of you. Going up, making the tackles and slowing down their ruck or even turning the ball over.”

ALSO READ: Nohamba pleased with man-of-the-match showing after blunder

Fourie was, however, quick to add that it wasn’t a perfect performance and that the Lions still had a lot to work on during this week ahead of their match against Cardiff on Friday night.

“It was a close match. At the end we did quite well to pull that one through and I think for the character of the team that (result) will go a long way for us,” said Fourie.

“In saying that I think we missed a lot of opportunities and we gave away a lot of easy tries that we shouldn’t have. So that is something we will be working on and hopefully we will get it right for the weekend.”

ALSO READ: Lions eager to take momentum from Ospreys win into Cardiff match

Looking at the Cardiff match-up, Fourie is expecting another tough physical battle, and believes that the Lions need to make another step up if they are to get another win away from home.

“The Welsh sides pride themselves on their big forwards, coming around the corner, and they have got backs that like to play with the ball. So I am not expecting anything different from Cardiff. They have also got a big pack,” explained Fourie.

“They also have a lot of nippy backline players to take the ball wide. So we have done our homework and we should be ready on Friday night when we jog out against them.”