Confident Lions not stressed about the log with full focus on Bulls

A confident Lions team is not stressed about their position on the United Rugby Championship (URC) log and are fully focussed on the challenge of taking on the Bulls in their cross-Jukskei derby at Ellis Park on Saturday afternoon.

The Lions currently sit 10^th on the URC log, just one point behind Ospreys in eighth, but equal on points with teams around them on a very tight log, and they know another loss against the Bulls will see them slip further away from their goal of making the competition playoffs.

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The Bulls managed to edge a thrilling encounter 30-28 at Loftus two weeks ago, and despite that loss Lions eighthman Francke Horn believes their strong form this season bodes well for them ahead of the big derby.

“We definitely have a lot of confidence, especially with how we’ve been playing at the moment. We (also) played really well in the last game against the Bulls,” said Horn.

“But we’re not too focused on where we are on the log and are taking it game by game and if we play well and do well, we’ll automatically go up.

“We’re really improving, week in and week out, and the losses that we’ve had have been by no more than seven points so it could’ve been a lot different. We just need to get those close games on our side and then things will look a lot better.”

Soft moments

Horn claimed that it was soft moments at vital times that have cost the Lions in most of their close defeats this season and that is something that they are looking to improve on in their coming games.

After the Bulls match they host the Sharks in early March, and if they can pick up two good wins it will put them in a great position, however two losses could leave them with too much to do over the back end of the competition.

“I just think sometimes that it is maybe one or two silly penalties that we are giving away at the wrong stages of the game or it is just maybe a lack of concentration or not effective game management,” explained Horn.

“It is nothing big, we definitely look at it every time, even if we win, where we can be better and I think we have been building nicely. I do not doubt that we will make the right decisions at the right time.”