Captain Marius Louw happy for Lions to get back to winning ways

Lions captain Marius Louw was thrilled to see his team break a three-match losing streak during their bonus point Challenge Cup (EPCR) win over French side Section Paloise (Pau) on Saturday night.

It was a weather disrupted match that saw the start delayed by an hour due to lightning, and then again for half an hour after lightning return during the second half, with the game in danger of being called off, before they were able to get back on and finish.

It wasn’t a perfect performance, with the Lions pushed hard throughout, as they led 19-16 at half-time, while Pau took a 23-19 lead early in the second half, before the hosts pulled away to secure a 43-35 win in the end.

After losing their last two United Rugby Championship (URC) games against Irish giants Leinster and Munster, and going down to Ospreys in their Challenge Cup opener a week previously, it was important for the Lions to get back to winning ways.

“We are really thankful that we were able to play the game, especially after all of the interruptions. It was special for us to play back at home in front of our fans, and for us to get the win under the belt after a couple of losses was important,” admitted Louw after the match

“I am proud of the boys for putting in a good performance. Our preparations the whole week couldn’t prepare us for a game like this. But I think we stuck to our game plan and it worked for us. So I am proud of the boys for sticking to their guns.”

Back on track

The bonus point win gets the Lions Challenge Cup campaign back on track, but they first face the Stormers in the URC this coming weekend, before turning their focus to their final two EPCR pool games in January, against Montpellier in France and at home against Dragons.

“It is important for us to just take it game by game in this competition, especially after getting this win. We now need to rest some bodies, as some of the guys travelled back from Europe and played at altitude. Even we (players who travelled a week earlier) could feel it,” said Louw.

“So we will make sure that we pick up on the work-ons that are needed going forward. We worked on a lot of things going into this game and managed to improve, which was good.”

Lions scrumhalf Morne van den Berg picked up the Man-of-the-Match award after an impressive performance and admitted it had been a very strange encounter.

“It was very weird. Probably one of the longest games. But I am just so glad that we could play the game and get the win,” said Van Den Berg.

“The rain in Joburg is a lot better than the rain in Europe. It’s been very hot the last couple of weeks so it (the rain) was welcome. It does make the ball quite slippery but we were able to handle it.”