Lions: We showed the Irish how to fight

21/04/2024 07:41

Head coach Ivan van Rooyen hailed the character of the Lions in Saturday's mauling of Leinster, while skipper Marius Louw savoured the rewards of a plan to create tries from turnovers.

Vodacom URC leaders Leinster were blown away inside the opening 15 minutes at Ellis Park, as tries from Morne van den Berg, Quan Horn and Louw put the Lions on their way to a resounding 44-12 win.

A late try from Francke Horn in his 50th appearance, along with a brace from Emmanuel Tshituka, capped a memorable day for Van Rooyen's charges, who briefly moved up into the top eight of the log before the close of round 14 this weekend.

Leinster only opened their account in the 53rd minute when Ciaran Frawley notched the first of his two tries, and speaking post-match, Van Rooyen told reporters: "A bit of errors in our back 40, 50 in terms of skills, plus penalties – if you're going to give Leinster penalties in those attack zones you're going to have to defend well.

"But what I'm proudest about is the fight and defence – the character in defence – and the willingness to keep them out.

"In the 80 minutes it’s probably our best character fight this season, which is obviously well done to the players, it's really good.

RECAP: Six-try Lions maul leaders Leinster

"To have some counter attack from scraps and ball on ground [and] to then finish it off is delightful; if you work that hard on defence and get an opportunity to use it, it’s good to see."

"We knew that if we were going to dominate tackles there would be opportunities [to counter] so we focused more on counter-rucking,” added Louw. “We definitely slowed the ball down a few times.

"We had a big focus on second efforts in the breakdown and I think we did that well. We knew Leinster attack quite tight because they want to bunch you in a bit and then they take you out wide. Second half they spread the ball a little more but we could see they were getting tired.

"I think our line speed forced them back inside and they got a little reward … but we sorted that out as well. And from then on we were able to get turnovers, and because they were attacking tight there were spaces out wide."

Meanwhile, Conor Murray’s late try secured Munster a 27-22 win in Pretoria on Saturday to take the defending champions above the Vodacom Bulls into third place.

On the challenge of facing the title-holders, Louw explained, “You can't think too far ahead, you have to win next week to be able to stay in it. It's so tight on the log and anything can happen.

“Yes, giving Leinster 40-odd is a confidence booster, and it definitely will lift Munster for next week as well, so that should be able to lift us even more.”

Photo: United Rugby Championship

The post Lions: We showed the Irish how to fight appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.