Lions boss Ivan van Rooyen has praised the hard work and big defensive effort of his side following their impressive 54-12 win against top-of-the-table team and former champions, Glasgow Warriors, in a United Rugby Championship match at Ellis Park on Saturday.
The win moved the Lions up to fourth on the points table with 48. They remain on track to finish in the top eight and play in the quarter-finals after the round-robin stage. All the teams have three games remaining.
The Lions scored eight tries on Saturday and properly erased the memory of last season’s 42-0 defeat to the same Glasgow side in Scotland.
Van Rooyen said that hiding had been the driving force behind Saturday’s performance.
‘Hard work and defence’
“I clearly remember the 42-0 last year. We spoke about it before this week’s match. They were way too good for us then. They taught us a lesson in playing with tempo and putting pressure on.
“We had an additional week to prep for this game and I am just extremely proud of the hard work and effort put in by the guys. The defence was especially good.
“A big drive and focus point for us was to not let them get penalties and get into our 22m area, because once there, they’re almost impossible to stop. They’re an exceptional attacking team, good in space and with time, and they always seem to have options, but our discipline was good.”
Tough run-in
While the Lions are fourth on the points table and look on course to finish in the top eight, they have three extremely difficult games remaining – against Connacht at home this weekend and against Leinster and Munster in Ireland.
“Our last four games will be against three former champions (Glasgow, Leinster and Munster) and Connacht this weekend, a side who have just beaten the Stormers and are the in-form team with six or seven straight wins,” said Van Rooyen.
“It’s going to be tough. Connacht are a very physical team and they also like to play high tempo rugby.”
Lions captain Francke Horn added: “We know where we want to be, but we don’t want to look too far ahead because you can lose focus on the game at hand.
“This last week it was only about Glasgow, next week will only be about Connacht.”
