Lions eager for big performance against physical Pau

The Lions are aiming to put in a statement performance against a physical Section Paloise (Pau) in their Challenge Cup match-up at Ellis Park on Saturday evening (kick-off 5:15pm).

After a fantastic start to their season that saw them win four straight games in the United Rugby Championship, the Lions have gone off the boil a bit with three losses in a row, against Leinster and Munster in the URC and against Ospreys in their Challenge Cup opener.

They are thus targeting a return to winning ways with them back at home against the French visitors, but assistant coach Ricardo Loubscher admitted that they also want to make sure they put in a strong performance.

“We are obviously not happy with the results. We had a big chat indoors around that a win is not enough, we need to put up a good performance. So the focus this week was to recover well (because of the short turnaround and travel), and be ready to put in a big showing,” said Loubscher.

“They (Pau) are physical and they’ve got some big boys. They can attack so your defence must be good, but from our point of view, we want to make sure we put them under pressure.

“We really need a good start so for the first 20 minutes we want to be direct and play with tempo and accuracy.”

Plenty to fix

The Lions fielded a largely second-string team for their 30-14 defeat against Ospreys in Llanelli over the past weekend, so a good portion of their main group should be fresh and ready for Pau.

But they also have plenty of things to fix from their defeats against the two Irish teams in the URC and from their loss against the Welsh side.

“There are a lot of mistakes we need to fix after the Ospreys game, and the Munster game as well. But we are excited and want to put in a good performance,” explained Loubscher.

“We started well (against Ospreys) and then we allowed them to get back into the game. Our discipline is something that we have been looking at. Because when you concede penalties and they get into your 22m you are immediately under pressure.

“In general I think our work rate off the ball could be better. We want to be ball in hand this weekend, we want to attack so we need to make sure that we are working hard to get into those positions so we can take advantage of those opportunities.”

Having lost their Challenge Cup opener and with just four pool matches in total before the knockouts, the Lions have to win against Pau, preferably with a bonus point, to get back on track.

Especially with an away trip to France to face Montpellier on January 11 before rounding out the pool phase against Welsh side Dragons at home a week later.