Lions have to show faith in their system against Edinburgh

Lions defence coach Jaque Fourie says the team have to believe in their system and back themselves if they want to emerge with a positive result from their EPCR Challenge Cup last 16 encounter with Edinburgh at the Hive Stadium in Scotland on Friday night (kick-off 9pm).

The Lions are gunning for a big performance, after being massively outplayed in a heavy 42-0 United Rugby Championship (URC) loss against Glasgow Warriors just up the road last weekend.

Fourie explained that a large part of their struggles came from not going all out when on attack, which cost them heavily against the URC defending champs.

He thus believes they need to believe in the system, back themselves and get the ball into the hands of their most dangerous players if they are to give the hosts a run for their money in the match.

“We must get through (with) our plays. we didn’t do that (against Glasgow) on Friday night. When we started doing that and got in behind the opposition, we looked like the team we want to be,” explained Fourie in the week.

“It’s about getting over the advantage line and getting through the phases with our carries. And then to get the ball in the hands of guys like Krappie (Morne van den Berg) and Quan (Horn) so that they can do their magic.

“Defensively we must just stop their momentum and stick to the system to turn the ball around. Scoring counter-attack tries is what we are good at. Getting back to stuff that makes the Lions the Lions, that is our main focus this week.”

Major boost

The Lions do receive a major boost with the return of in-form Springbok scrumhalf Van den Berg, who joined up with the team after missing the past two games through injury.

Van Den Berg played a big part in some strong Lions performances during the URC in February and March, including in a solid 30-23 win over the Stormers and a thumping 39-14 win against the Sharks both at Ellis Park.

Even in a losing cause, when they went down 25-22 to the Sharks in Durban, he was in top form, picking up the man-of-the-match award, but also picked up a finger injury that ruled him out of their two URC tour losses against Cardiff and Glasgow.

“I was very disappointed to miss games, but you have to take the positives. I’ve had three good weeks to prepare, freshen up and work with the coaches. I feel great, and I’m confident heading into this match,” said Van Den Berg earlier this week.

He also praised Nico Steyn, who stepped in during his absence, saying: “Nico is a brilliant player, and he did really well. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the results, but as a unit, we’ve identified what we need to fix.”