Lions relying on scrum as ‘a weapon’ against Cardiff

The Lions will be looking to use their scrum as a weapon when they take on Cardiff in their United Rugby Championship match at Ellis Park on Sunday afternoon (kickoff 4pm).

Despite their struggles in other departments, the one shining light for the Lions so far this season has been their immense front row, which has dominated teams throughout the competition, and they will be aiming to get themselves on the front foot with another big effort this weekend.

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“The scum has been really good for us. We have Sti Sithole, Jaco Visagie, Carlu Sadie and Ruan Dreyer with a lot of experience among them, so they pride themselves in that area of the game where they can make a huge statement there,” said Lions forwards coach Albert van den Berg.

“Coach Julian Redelinghuys drives a lot of basics there, making sure everyone understands what they have to do and where they can deliver. With teams coming here to the Highveld we will definitely use it as a big weapon for us.

“I think if we can get good ball here, especially against Cardiff this weekend, we can actually launch from that set-piece, and then when they want to launch we want to put pressure on them in that scrum area and make sure they don’t get front foot ball.”

The Lions head into the game against Cardiff on a five-match losing streak, having had a disastrous start to the year, but they are fresh off a good performance against Leinster two weeks ago and they will look to build on that.

Cardiff will also have to deal with the altitude on the Highveld and the Lions will have to make this advantage count and come away with a good win to reignite their campaign.

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“There was a massive improvement from the players from a physicality point, which was good for us and we want to take that confidence from the Leinster game into this Cardiff game,” explained van den Berg.

“We had a good couple of training sessions last week, we have started well in training this week and the energy is good. There is a bit of a buzz in the team, which is nice.

“We just have to make sure come Sunday when we play against Cardiff that we can actually turn that into a positive and get the win for us. We must make sure that we can put it all together and get a good performance out of the guys. “