Sloppy Lions lick their wounds

08/04/2024 09:22

Head coach Ivan van Rooyen and skipper Jaco Visagie said the Lions have plenty to work on tactically back in the Republic after their Challenge Cup exit on Saturday.

The Lions dropped out of the European cup competition with a frustrating performance against Benetton in Treviso, where they went down 27-17 despite the hosts losing a player to a red card in the 44th minute and a subsequent yellow card in the 67th minute.

The Johannesburgers made a strong statement early on with a converted Visagie try in the second minute, but the hosts cancelled this out with two tries as the half progressed to add to a stunning long-range drop goal by Rhyno Smith.

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Jordan Hendrikse narrowed their deficit with a penalty goal shortly before half time to trail 17-10, but despite their two-man numerical advantage the Lions were unable to make it back-to-back appearances in the Challenge Cup quarter-finals, and will now have a week's break before they tackle leaders Leinster in the Vodacom URC at Ellis Park on 20 April.

“After a good physical and repeated efforts from us, unfortunately individual errors in crucial times stopped us from capitalising on the numerical advantage," Van Rooyen was quoted post-match.

"We couldn’t look after the ball for long enough periods to get the result in our favour.”

“Obviously we are very disappointed not to be part of this tournament [any longer],” Visagie added. “We should have been better tactically then. We will have to look at recordings of the game to see where we could have done better.”

Photo: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile via Getty Images

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