Lions shift focus to Dragons after disappointing Bulls loss

The Lions have swiftly shifted their focus to their final United Rugby Championship (URC) match of the season against the Dragons in Wales this coming weekend, after a disappointing Currie Cup loss against the Bulls over the past weekend.

For the first time in this year’s Currie Cup the Lions named a full strength URC side, having previously backed a largely U20 team to do business in the competition, and were considered slight favourites against a largely Currie Cup based Bulls team at Loftus.

But a disastrous first half, which saw the Lions trailing 35-10 at one stage, laid the platform for a tight 43-37 defeat in the end, despite a big second half fightback.

“We are really disappointed with the result and that middle 20-25 minutes but there were a lot of positives to take out of the next 40,” said Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen.

“When we keep it simple and effective we look good. We were inconsistent with decision making and I think we probably needed a little bit more discipline in sticking to our plan.

“We know that we let it slip. But we have to pick it up on Monday and have two good training days and then head to Wales.”

ALSO READ: Bulls hit hard with the whistle, but Smal won’t blame the referee

It has been an average first campaign in the URC for the Lions, but a win over the Dragons would leave them with a record of eight wins against 10 losses in the tournament, which is not a bad effort from a side with a lot less depth than many of the teams around them on the log.

Despite the travel factor the Lions will be taking it as a regular training week, without changing too much ahead of the match.

“We have full training days on Monday and Tuesday and then fly on Tuesday night. We will have a flush out session Wednesday afternoon, have a training session Thursday morning and then a captain’s (run),” explained Van Rooyen.

“So it’s a normal game week prep for us, it’s just the flight and luckily with the URC there is only a little travel fatigue and not jetlag, so we should be fine to have a close to normal week of training.”

The match could also be a farewell for a number of first team regulars, including captain Burger Odendaal who is leaving for English Premiership side Wasps, with it uncertain if he will feature in any of the Lions final two Currie Cup games this season.