Johannesburg — Rudolf Straeuli admitted last week that the Lions are currently “just not clicking” as a team, but that fact won’t dissuade the Lions Rugby CEO of the notion that the team is on the right track in the United Rugby Championship (URC) and EPCR Challenge Cup.
The Lions have had a torrid time of it the last two months, losing five of their six matches across both tournaments. Their lone victory was an important Challenge Cup win over Dragons in Wales, which secured them a home Round of 16 clash against Racing 92 on April 1, but they also suffered a defeat against Stade Francais in that period in the competition.
Of a more pressing concern, were the four losses in the URC against the Sharks, Stormers, Munster and Connacht in which they conceded 30-plus points in all those matches. It has seen the Lions drop to 13th in the URC standings, nine points behind the eight-placed Sharks, but with a game in hand over most of their opponents.
Said Straeuli of their recent run of results: “We know we didn’t have a good tour.
“We came unstuck against the Stormers (a 31-22 home loss and a more recent 40-8 away defeat), which was maybe a bit of a confidence deflater. Against the South African franchises, we must do better.
“We are quite comfortable that we can handle the overseas franchises. I think it is against the Sharks and the Bulls that is going to be our toughest competition – that is my belief.
“We must play a bit of a different style," he added.
"We’ve had too many individual mistakes and we have been giving away possession to our opposition, who have been running at us and attacking us with that possession.”
The Lions have six matches left in the URC to rectify their position and secure a Top 8 finish. They must muster their confidence and skills starting this Saturday against the Sharks at Emirates Airline Park, before hosting Glasgow Warriors, which is their extremely important game in hand, a week later.
They finish their regular season with away matches against the Bulls and Benetton, before home encounters against Leinster and Zebre. In-between these away and home matches, they face the Parisian Sky Blues and Whites in the Challenge Cup.
With Straeuli confirming he has the utmost confidence in the coaching staff under Ivan van Rooyen last week, the team should be able to focus on their preparations against the Durbanites on Saturday (kick-off 3pm) without any needless distractions swirling around their management.
Nevertheless, the Lions have failed to beat a South African side this season and that will bring its own set of stresses and pressure.
“It will be a good character test for us as management and as players," Straeuli said of the clash, which is shaping up as a must-win for both teams.
“We know the position that we are in. The players have been training and working in this rain (referring to the inclement weather in Johannesburg the past fortnight) and working on those mistakes.
“The main thing is, we know we are at home, we must keep the ball and we must play … we must make sure we don’t give them any possession,” he concluded.
IOL Sport