A shift in Lions’ attitude credited with change of fortunes

Lions captain Jaco Kriel has credited a big attitude change from the players for their upturn in form over the last few weeks, which has seen them being just edged by Leinster in Ireland and securing an impressive bonus-point win against the Cardiff Blues.

The Leinster result was the Lions’ fifth loss in a row, but they showed an improvement in that match after some desperately poor performances earlier in the year, and they managed to build on that by breaking their losing streak against Cardiff at the weekend.

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“I think our leadership group has done really well,” said Kriel.

“A couple of weeks back we sat down and said we were not happy with the attitude and effort from the guys, and I really believe that this is the first time in so long that guys have brought good effort and attitude two games in a row.

“So that is building on the team culture and it’s really good to see the guys’ response and see the hard work paying off.”

Kriel had used some inspiring words to fire up the players before their latest match, and they responded well with a big first-half performance that laid the platform for the 37-20 win.

“Before the game I told the guys to just remember the day that they fell in love with rugby, and to go out with that and play for that moment,” said Kriel.

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“I really believe that everybody then showed in a way that type of character and that type of hard work, and it is really appreciated from a captain to get that sort of response from the team,” the skipper added.

Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen was also relieved to see the team finally get their first URC victory of the year, ending what was becoming a dangerous losing run.

“We are definitely relieved to get the win. Our intent was to be direct and work hard, which was good from us,” Van Rooyen explained.

“Their set-piece defence was good, and they had one or two good plans in the scrums.

“I think we started the game off well, but in that second half I think the pressure of not winning lately got to us. We got a little bit frantic and we forced one or two things, but I think looking back at it, we did some really good things and I am proud of the performance.”