Odendaal delighted with Lions’ third straight URC victory

The Lions will be reveling in a brilliant 45-15 win over Ospreys in the United Rugby Championship at Ellis Park on Friday night, which gave them their third straight win against overseas opposition, signaling an impressive turnaround after a tough start to the year.

Lions captain Burger Odendaal led from the front with a barnstorming display in midfield and despite only playing 64 minutes was still named Man-of-the-Match after leaving everything on the field.

Although it was a big bonus-point win, Odendaal believed the team could have been better on the day.

“I think we were a bit scrappy. We could have put them away in the first half, we just weren’t clinical in the 22m (in the first half),” Odendaal said.

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“We put them under pressure on attack, got into the 22m and didn’t get points. But hats off to the boys, I think it was an awesome effort and the tries came rolling in, in the second half, so it was beautiful to see,” the skipper added.

“At the end I felt like I had an asthma attack at one stage, I couldn’t really breathe, but I really enjoyed tonight and want to say thanks to all the fans that came out to support us.”

Having outscored the visitors seven tries to two, the Lions attack deservedly received the plaudits, but their defence was equally impressive as they stopped the Ospreys attack numerous times, smashing them back and then attacking from broken play.

“I think we set the standard last week against Munster, so we didn’t want to let ourselves down, especially on defence, and once again the boys made a massive step up,” said Odendaal.

“We knew Ospreys was going to be a physical battle and we knew they were going to come hard and direct around the corner and the guys really manned up.”