Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen has praised the Bulls’ exceptional display but admits his side has plenty to fix after a 57-15 hammering at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
The visitors conceded nine tries as the Bulls ran riot in Pretoria, leading 31-10 at the break and never looking back.
It was the Lions’ first defeat of the URC campaign after back-to-back home wins against Leinster and the Ospreys.
“I don’t want to take anything away from the Bulls. I think they were exceptional,” said Van Rooyen. “It felt like we played against 10 or 12 Springboks today and they were good.
“But in saying that, with all the respect in the world, I thought we were really below par. A lot of the fixes will be on us.”
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The game changed after 25 minutes when the Lions were reduced to 14 men, with Springbok scrumhalf Morné van den Berg sin-binned for a cynical infringement at the breakdown.
“The yellow card was quite costly,” said Van Rooyen. “We let in two soft first-phase tries in that period.
“We couldn’t hold onto the ball or build pressure in attack. We have still got to get out the blocks.”
Lions captain Francke Horn was clear about what went wrong and insisted the squad would not let the result derail their season.
“If you give the Bulls 31 points in the first half with three tries that didn’t go past two phases, that puts you under pressure,” he said.
“We need to be more focused, more clinical, and if things go a bit bad, just calm down and get cool heads.
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“It will be a shame if this one result determines the whole of the next seven months,” he added.
“We worked hard to get where we are and we know what we need to do.”
Photo: Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images
The post Cash: It felt like playing 12 Boks appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen has praised the Bulls’ exceptional display but admits his side has plenty to fix after a 57-15 hammering at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
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