No more excuses as Lions go for broke in Challenge Cup against Dragons

Lions assistant coach Albert van den Berg says the struggling side cannot keep making excuses, as they look to break a four match losing streak when they take on the Dragons in their Challenge Cup clash at Rodney Parade in Newport on Sunday afternoon.

The Lions losing streak started at the end of December when they suffered heavy United Rugby Championship (URC) defeats against local rivals the Sharks and Stormers in Durban and Cape Town respectively.

ALSO READ: Lions face make or break Challenge Cup clash against Dragons

They followed that up by starting the year with a heavy URC loss against Munster in Cork, before going down against Stade Francais in the past weekend’s Challenge Cup match.

In both the Munster and Stade Francais games the Lions faced difficult foreign conditions, but Van Den Berg admitted that can’t be used as an excuse any more.

“We can’t come every year and say that these conditions are new to us. I think that cliché of learning lessons every game should be out of the window now. We are a professional outfit and when we play these teams we should what’s going to work and what isn’t,” said Van Den Berg.

“So we have done a review of our game against Munster. The way they played in the first half by keeping the ball and putting us under pressure, and in the second half they used the wind at their backs. So if we experience those conditions against Dragons we should know what’s coming.

“We can’t come with excuses every week and say it’s a lesson learnt. We have prepared well this week, if there is rain or wind everyone understands how we want to play. So we just have to make sure that we execute our plans on the day.”

Basic improvements

Van Den Berg believes that if the team can make a few basic improvements to their game, they will have a good chance of breaking their losing streak and coming away from the Dragons game with a win.

“What we need to change if you look at our past games is unforced errors. If we can limit our unforced errors and improve our decision making on the field we will have a good chance of winning,” explained Van Den Berg.

“We just need everyone to be on the same page. We have a young team that is getting a lot of experience by playing these games, but we need to take the next step by limiting our unforced errors and putting teams under pressure when we are in the strike zone.

“We also have to convert our chances into points. We tend to do a lot of playing but we don’t get the points, so if we can change that we can win. They (Dragons) are a good team, they are playing a lot better than last year, and with them playing at home we are going to have to be sharp.”