Lions must fix ‘minor errors’ to hit their straps – Odendaal

Small errors cost the Lions in their entertaining 47-37 United Rugby Championship defeat to the Sharks at Ellis Park over the weekend, but captain Burger Odendaal believes his team are almost where they want to be in the early stages of the 2022 campaign.

Both teams were guilty of small errors throughout the match on Saturday, with the Lions making a few more which were capitalised on by the clinical visiting team.

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“It’s small margins. I think against the Stormers we very clinical – every opportunity we got, we put points on the board – but against the Sharks it was a bit different,” explained Odendaal.

“We still created a lot of opportunities, even though I felt our attack wasn’t top notch and we could have got points on the board, but minor errors gave the Sharks opportunities and they scored from that.

“So I don’t think it’s major things we have to sort out, it’s small things and at the end of the day it’s the small things that make a big difference.”

Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen agreed with his captain, highlighting the big moments in the game that cost the home side the match.

It was just a three-point game going into the final 10 minutes, and it stayed that way until the final minute when the Sharks scored an all important try to finally put the match to bed.

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“We made four big errors that gave them four tries. So I think it was four crucial errors that cost us because they capitalized and I also thought territorially we just weren’t good enough,” said Van Rooyen.

“We still managed to score 37 points without real great attack from our side, so that was a positive, but unfortunately it is four points dropped for not getting a win,” Van Rooyen said.

“But I am proud of the way the guys fought. At one stage we were on the edge, and to come back from there speaks a lot to where we are as a group.”

Looking forward, the Lions don’t have much time to dwell on the result and have to get ready for a fixture against the Bulls and then a match against the Stormers over the next three weeks, and they will be looking to fix a few things.

“Our lineouts weren’t good enough, so we need to look at that, but I was happy enough with our performance in the scrum, which was pretty solid,” Van Rooyen said.

“I think we need to have a look at our decision making in our own 22m, when to have a crack and when to put pressure back onto the opposition, and one or two set piece things that we can tweak a little bit.”