Van Rooyen: If Lions can colour in the pictures, they can make it happen in URC

This was probably one that got away from the Lions, but despite the 25-22 defeat to the Sharks, coach Ivan van Rooyen is still looking at the rest of the season with a glass half-full.

Fighting back from a 17-7 deficit early in the second half to lead 22-17 with 15 minutes to go, it appeared as if the Johannesburg side – driven by the outstanding Player of the Match, Morné van den Berg – would finally back-up the previous week’s 38-14 victory at Ellis Park.

Their inconsistency over the last few seasons must be driving the Lions supporters crazy, and it seemed like they had turned the corner at last.

Captain Francke Horn and the rest of the forwards hung tough in hot, humid conditions to show real character by scoring a driving maul try through hooker Franco Marais with 15 minutes to go.

But then they failed to control the resultant kickoff, and the Sharks roared back to dot down through Nick Hatton to level matters at 22-22.

Jaden Hendrikse then booted over a late penalty to secure a bonus-point win and the SA Shield for the Durbanites.

“Definitely (left a few tries out on the field). Like I said, we field that kickoff, hopefully kick it out close to the halfway line, I don’t think they got that much reward from set-piece attack,” Van Rooyen said.

“We feel that we started to isolate them, so there were breakdown opportunities for us to get turnovers, and from there, we are really dangerous.

“Obviously they gave us opportunities last week, so we won the 50-50s and the scraps. We managed to win the play in the back-field.

“They really made a step up today there – we didn’t win that many scraps. The 50-50s didn’t go all our way today like it did last week.

“The ball could’ve bounced up for Edwill (van der Merwe) just in front of our bench, 30-metre run, different opportunity. One or two offloads, one or two passes might have stuck.

“So, we are creating the pictures. Obviously with the humidity here, with their line-speed and everything, decision-making is a little tougher, but we are definitely creating pictures.”

For the Lions, though, was at least a losing bonus point, which took them into eighth spot on the United Rugby Championship log on 29 points, one behind seventh-placed Edinburgh.

After a gruelling period of SA derbies, they can recharge their batteries for a week before their next encounter against Cardiff in Wales on Friday, March 21 (9.35pm SA time kick-off).

They have their playoff hopes in their own hands, and their coach is confident that they make the quarter-finals.

“We’ve heard everyone saying it – playing four derbies in a row is a challenge... especially four South African games,” Van Rooyen said.

“So, I think physically, we really moved forward. Our work-rate has improved immensely.

“When we managed to keep ball, our attack can threaten you. I think our movement and decision-making in defence is better.

“Last week we showed we can also exploit something with the kicking game.

“So, where we are currently, we are really frustrated as I’m sitting here. But if you take the emotion away, we are really excited about where we are.

“Being pretty average for about 20 minutes in this game, and still losing by three points against the Shield winners, shows you the hunger in the squad.

“It shows you the ambition in the squad. We’ve got six URC games to make it happen for us.

“If we didn’t get the reaction in the second half, the frustration would’ve been high. But seeing the response, the up in energy and excitement to get playing...

“We feel that over the last month, we’ve really grown in attack, defence, kicking game... Consistency as well.

“So, we’ve got Cardiff away, Glasgow away, then Edinburgh in the EPCR. If we can hopefully manage to do the job there, it’s either to France for Bayonne, or back to Loftus for the Bulls.

“And then we’ve got four home games. So, the first part of the tour, the two URC games, is really vital for us.”