Lions must ‘fix it’, says Van Rooyen, after another URC loss

There were contrasting emotions in the Lions and Stormers camps after the visitors claimed a resounding 32-10 win over the hosts in their United Rugby Championship game at Ellis Park over the weekend.

The Lions were bitterly disappointed after succumbing to their fourth loss in a row, while the Stormers were celebrating an unbeaten four-week run against South African opposition, showcasing themselves as the form team in the country.

Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen was not happy with his team’s finishing, as they created enough opportunities to compete against the high-flying Stormers, but they couldn’t take any of their chances.

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“I think that was the story of the game. We had six or seven 22-metre entries and we didn’t come away with a single point,” Van Rooyen said.

“How do you address and fix it? Through repetition and putting the players under pressure to keep on developing and reacting better.

“So we have to put the players under that pressure in the week – that’s the only way to fix it – and we can’t wait for Saturday to fix it.”

Lions captain Jaco Kriel believed the next step for the team was to reset as they prepared to face overseas opposition over the next two months of URC action.

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“Losing four games in a row is never easy, and I think with any team morale will be a bit down, so we will try during the week to pick the boys up and restart,” explained Kriel.

“We want to start with a clean slate and learn from our mistakes, so as a leadership group we have to keep working on that.

“There are a lot of young guys in our system that must learn and gain experience from this and that is our job as seniors, to show them how to get through the tough times.”

In total contrast to the disappointment of the Lions coach and captain, Stormers coach John Dobson was absolutely thrilled with his side’s effort and the fact that they managed to walk away from Ellis Park with a full house of points without putting in too much effort.

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“Look, we wanted to be better today than we’ve been over the past few weeks and I thought we were,” said Dobson.

“But, from a certain point of view, we sort of managed the game well and took our opportunities well. We probably left a few points out there in the first half, but in the end we were really clinical.

“The thing is we had to manage energy. I don’t want to sound arrogant, but you can’t over-exert yourself up here, not against a team like the Lions. But it’s almost like we won without over-exerting ourselves.”