Lions show character by digging deep in URC win over Benetton

The Lions showed tremendous character in their United Rugby Championship (URC) match against Benetton on Saturday to recover from a 15-point deficit over the last 20 minutes to clinch a bonus point 32-28 win in Italy.

It was an extremely important result for the Lions, as they kept their faint hopes of reaching the URC quarterfinals alive with a massive win on the road.

The Lions have usually been fast starters this season, with some big first-half performances let down by poor second-half efforts which led to them losing a number of games.

But this time it was roles reversed as Benetton enjoyed the better of the play to take a 28-13 lead after 60 minutes, only for the Lions to tear back with a three try blitz in nine minutes to steal the win.

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“We had a slow start and that’s not us. We haven’t been a team that starts slow in the first half and we knew we had to have a really fast start to put them away,” Lions captain Marius Louw said after the match.

“We weren’t able to do that though. So going in at half time we had a chat about picking up our intensity and backing the calls coming through.

“The scoreboard kept on ticking for them, so we knew we had to execute. Once we started to doing that over the last 20 minutes we were able to be present in the moment to finish the game strong.”

Back to basics

Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen concurred with his captain, explaining that once the team went back to basics they started improving their play and were able to fight back for the win.

“You could see we hadn’t played for two weeks. We were a little bit slow in that first 20 to 30 minutes. We gave the ball back to Benetton too easily and then we had to scramble (on defence),” said Van Rooyen.

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“In those last 20 minutes we managed to turn that around. When we started playing more direct and simple, there was a big difference.

“That was the big message at half-time, keep it simple, keep it basic. If we can get through seven or eight phases things will improve because if the ball is turned over too early, we get punished for it.

“So well done to the guys in that second 40. They were a lot more direct and a lot more simple and clear.”