Lions play down record breaking first half against Edinburgh – ‘still plenty to work on’

Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen played down his teams recording breaking first half performance in their United Rugby Championship (URC) match against Edinburgh, that set them on their way to a dominant 55-21 win at Ellis Park on Saturday.

The Lions ran in an incredible seven tries in the first half of the match to roar into a 48-0 lead at the break, which was the biggest leading margin at half time in URC history.

The Scottish visitors however made sure that it wouldn’t be a completely one sided hammering as they scored three tries in the second half to at least win the second 40 minutes 21-7, but still fell to a chastening defeat overall.

“It was a decent start. We had good intent, good intensity and good focus. Our discipline was also really good. We managed to force our game onto them,” explained Van Rooyen after the match.

“Obviously with the quality and number of internationals they have (in their team) they were never going to just roll over and let you scratch their belly.

“They tightened up in the second half. We spoke about resetting and restarting. But we made a couple of skill errors early on (in the second half) and one or two penalties went there way. They got set piece (advantage) and were able to dictate the tempo and managed to squeeze us a bit.

“So I am really happy with the five points. There were a lot of good things from us, but a lot of things to work on as well.”

Best first half

Van Rooyen was asked if this was the best first half performance from a Lions team under his watch since taking over the head coaching reins from Swys de Bruin in 2019, having previously coached the Lions Currie Cup team for two seasons.

“If you are talking intensity and peddle to the metal, I would say yes. We have had a couple of good halves like this before. But in terms of being clinical and taking our opportunities, that was probably the best half since I have been in charge,” admitted Van Rooyen.

The Lions now firmly have Edinburgh’s number in the URC, having beaten them three times and lost once over four seasons in the competition.

In the first URC season the Lions clinched a 15-9 home win over them, before stunning them 22-19 in Scotland in their second campaign.

Last season Edinburgh just held off the Lions in Scotland, edging a 16-15 win, while the Johannesburg side absolutely stamped their authority back on home turf this weekend.

“We have always had close results against them. I remember clearly that first (away) win we had there (in Edinburgh). That ecstatic feeling of beating them there. Last year we felt we let one slip there, it was a one-point defeat,” explained Van Rooyen.

“So if you allow them to play (it can be dangerous). The quality they have and they like to play with a bit more ball in hand, but luckily we kept the ball away from them (this time) and managed to play ourselves.”