Lions happy to head back home after successful European tour

The Lions are happy to be heading home after a very successful European tour saw them become the first South African team to claim an unbeaten three match overseas tour in the United Rugby Championship.

The Lions beat Ospreys and Cardiff in Wales and followed that up with a superb win over Edinburgh in Scotland, and now head back to SA with a lot of confidence.

They face a tough first game back at Ellis Park against Irish powerhouse Ulster, but coach Ivan van Rooyen says the team will not be under any pressure.

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“Coming back home I don’t think we will be under any pressure to win. The travel is quite intense going back, so it’s important for us to travel well, and really recover well,” explained Van Rooyen.

“We face a very fit and tough Ulster team. So whatever we can do to best prepare for the game we will do. Then we face Glasgow followed by the Stormers, before we get a bit of a break. So it will be seven games in a row by then.

“Obviously it would be nice to keep building on the momentum built up (over the past three weeks). But this week we have to balance our preparation with wellness and recovery. So we have planned hard to try and get that mix right.

“But it is always nice being back home, being able to sleep in your own bed and playing in front of the Lions supporters. So it will be really good to see everyone back at Ellis Park on Saturday.”

Unbeaten tour

Although the unbeaten tour came as a surprise to many fans and pundits, Van Rooyen claimed that it was all part of the plan for the team, and that the first win was very important in setting the tone for the rest of the tour.

“You always plan to win, so it was something that we were planning for. But I think the crucial victory on tour was that first one, we managed to sneak in against Ospreys and that obviously then increased the belief,” said Van Rooyen.

“But the most rewarding thing for us as coaches was to see that effort three weeks in a row. In all three games in the final 10 minutes we had to really be disciplined and get stuck into the moment.

“We were sometimes defending for seven or eight minutes straight, especially against Ospreys and against Edinburgh, so the character shown by the guys was amazing.