Lions have to pick themselves up after poor start to URC

The Lions have to try and pick themselves up and kick-start their United Rugby Championship (URC) campaign, after they suffered their third straight loss of the season, going down 15-10 against Benetton in Italy at the weekend.

It was a grind of a game in tricky conditions, with the hosts taking a 7-3 lead into the half-time break and then a 10-3 lead after 55 minutes, before the Lions levelled the scores with 18 minutes left and Benetton dotted down the winning try in the 70^th minute.

It was, however, another missed opportunity for the Lions, who were the better side in the first half but could only come away with a single penalty to their name despite dominating possession and territory and having a host of chances in the Benetton 22m.

Tough conditions

“Those were some tough conditions to play in, it was raining quite a bit. You could see at the end of the game both teams were quite fatigued, as it was a very physical game and I think both teams were quite physical,” explained Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen after the match.

“I think they (Benetton) won the breakdown battle at the end of the day, especially at crucial times in their own 22m, when we were close to their tryline. Either it was an individual error or they turned the ball over.

“I think in the first half we spent enough time in their 22m to walk away with a couple of points and we didn’t manage to do that.

“But good fight from the guys to come back and score that try (to level the scores after 62 minutes), but at the end we just didn’t play the territory (game) well enough and made crucial errors at crucial times which allowed them to spend the last three to four minutes in our half.”

Turnaround

Having lost their opening two games of the season to the Stormers (35-33) and Edinburgh (17-16) the Lions have been well in with a chance of winning each match, but they have come up short which will be very worrying if they can’t turn it around.

They will also possibly be without lock Darrien-Lane Landsberg and prop Morgan Naude for their next game after both pulled up with hamstring and shoulder injuries respectively against Benetton.

They will now be targeting their massively important clash against Scarlets in Scotland on Saturday to get the win they so desperately need, especially with an unenviable final tour match against Ulster in Ireland the following weekend.

“It’s a six-day turnaround, so it’s a short turnaround for us and we have to get ready to face the Scarlets,” said Van Rooyen.