Van Rooyen proud of Lions character despite Ulster defeat

Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen said he was proud of the character and fight shown by his team to stage a dramatic comeback against Irish powerhouse Ulster, in their thrilling 10-try 37-39 defeat in the United Rugby Championship at Ellis Park on Saturday but admitted they gave it away too easily.

It was a back and forth match, with Ulster going ahead early, only for the Lions to battle back to edge in front 18-15 at halftime, with Ulster then flying into a 36-18 lead, before the Lions again came back to take the match down to the wire.

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The two bonus points gained from the encounter could prove crucial in the teams chase of a quarterfinal berth in this year’s competition, but they will also know it was an opportunity missed against one of the tournaments strongest sides.

“I think we really worked hard and showed great character to come back every time, we just gave it away too easy. We made one or two crucial errors, we weren’t clinical and a little bit sloppy,” explained Van Rooyen after the match.

“I almost feel we have been a little bit frantic at home. Overseas we were calmer and we had to build an innings, otherwise we wouldn’t have been in the contest.

“Similar to the Bulls and today it just felt like we wanted to overpower (Ulster) from minute one, instead of building it gradually. I think that is part of the review process from our side, which is how to really apply pressure so that at minute 60 or 70 the dam wall will break.”

Misfiring lineout

The Lions will be a bit disappointed with the performance of their lineout in the game, which misfired a number of times, including in the closing moments of the match when they had a last chance to try and win the game.

“You can only build pressure on attack if you win your set piece and if that is on front foot ball even better so. The last lineout we felt we still had an opportunity, so to miss that was obviously frustrating,” said Van Rooyen.

“But again we showed glimpses of what we can do against a very good Ulster team and now it is just about putting that together consistently.”

The Lions next take on Glasgow Warriors at Ellis Park this coming Saturday.