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Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen says his players are ready for a difficult opening 40 minutes in their URC derby against the Sharks on Saturday. Picture: Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images
The Lions are gearing up for a massive assault from the Sharks over the first 40 minutes when they go head-to-head in their second straight United Rugby Championship (URC) derby, this time at Kings Park in Durban on Saturday afternoon (kick-off 2pm).
After producing a near perfect performance in delivering a thumping 38-14 win at Ellis Park over the past weekend, the Lions know the Sharks will be desperate to bounce back with a massive showing in front of their home fans to put things right.
Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen is aware that they likely won’t be able to replicate what they did on the Highveld, but admitted that the team were ready for the challenge and were still aiming to improve on the previous game.
“It’s impossible to replicate everything. So it is a new week, a new challenge, and we are under no illusion they are going to be a lot better,” said Van Rooyen.
“Any SA derby and any SA team that is hurting is going to be physical and up for the challenge. So we know it is going to be a totally different first 20 to 40 minutes that will be coming our way. It is important for us to be better and focus on what we want to do.”
Most viewers would have said that the Lions were near faultless in their dismantling of the Sharks, but Van Rooyen highlighted a host of areas that they were still unhappy with and were looking to improve on this weekend.
“There are still some defensive work-ons for us. Our decision making and effectiveness at the breakdown and defensively moving into space with our eyes up. I think we created a couple of pictures that the Sharks would have looked at and said there are a couple of opportunities,” explained Van Rooyen.
“On attack we are still not accurate enough. There were quite a few opportunities created that we didn’t finish. Set piece wise we were not really consistent enough in the scrums and lineouts, and we aren’t yet firing on all cylinders.
“It (set piece) has been a focus for us, especially playing four derbies in a row, and we were quite disappointed with the consistency last week in the scrums and lineouts, so that has been a focus point.”
Last season the Lions did the double over the Sharks, winning at home and in Durban, but it was expected to be a much stiffer challenge this season due to the coastal side having drastically improved their form.
Despite the fact that it is almost a different team they are facing this time round, the Lions can still take some stuff out of their win at Kings Park, after they trailed 18-3 at halftime, only to stage a second half comeback to win 20-18 in the end.
“We were really average in that first half (last year in Durban). We got dominated physically and caught without our eyes up on defence, conceded too much momentum and didn’t really throw punches on attack,” explained Van Rooyen.
“Then in the second half we managed to turn the momentum a little bit, were a lot more physical and managed to start winning the small battles. Luckily at the end with a good kick we were able to turn it around.
“But they are a lot better than last year. So it has been a big week of prep for us, trying to understand what we did well (at Ellis Park) and trying to fix the things we didn’t (do well).”
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