Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen says his side must step up a level against the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld next week after beating the Ospreys.
The Pride made it nine log points from their opening two matches of the URC season with a six-try, 35-19 win against the Welsh club at Ellis Park on Saturday, having edged champions Leinster 27-26 last week.
But Van Rooyen was already focused on what lies ahead.
“Today’s performance won’t be enough against the Bulls next week,” he said. “It’s a typical derby, so it’s going to be a massive set-piece, huge physicality.
“The Bulls have shown that they want to play a little bit more, which makes them dangerous but there’s also opportunity.”
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The warning came on the back of a game where the Lions had to dig deep after trailing 12-10 at the break.
“We came in at half-time and said, ‘Listen, it’s not working out wide for us today,’ and sometimes that does happen,” said captain Francke Horn.
“The forwards said we need to roll up our sleeves and make sure we get some maul tries. If we have to go scrum, penalty, kick out, maul, penalty, kick out again and then score from a maul, that’s what we’re going to do. And that’s how we started the second half.”
It was exactly the kind of response Van Rooyen said he needed from his side, though he was candid about how the Lions got themselves into that position in the first place.
“We weren’t accurate enough. We lost some early lineouts. Then you can’t build momentum and you can’t apply what we wanted to do in terms of plans,” he said.
“At half-time we really simplified and just said find a way. We believe there’s a little bit of a crack, let’s go there and see if we can exploit it.”
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Horn said the forward’s second-half showing set a standard they will need to exceed in Pretoria.
“It’s a really good, positive performance from our pack. We’ll have to match that and even dominate next weekend,” he said.
Photo: Anton Geyser/Gallo Images
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Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen says his side must step up a level against the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld next week after beating the Ospreys.
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