Julian Redelinghuys: Lions must cash in at home to stay in Challenge Cup hunt

The Lions are on an uncustomary roll after back-to-back victories in the United Rugby Championship, and forward coach Julian Redelinghuys feels they have the momentum to win Saturday’s Challenge Cup clash with Benetton at Ellis Park.

But the former Lions and Bok prop says his team cannot afford to drop this home game and must cash in on significant URC defeats of Ulster and the Bulls.

With just four pool matches determining playoff qualification for the Challenge Cup, Redelinghuys says there is no room for error.

“You need to end high up in your pool to have a home round of 16 and quarter-final,” he said. “Benetton here, Newcastle away, Lyon here, Perpignan away — those games decide everything. We want Ellis Park hosting those knockouts.”

The Lions are not strangers to the Italian team — earlier this year, they were beaten 41-15 in Treviso. It was an error-strewn Lions performance that Redelinghuys described as “ruinous.”

“We don’t want to dwell on revenge; rather, we must focus on our improvement and our current processes. We know what to expect, and we’re keen for the challenge.”

The Lions’ scrumming was pivotal to the surprise win in Pretoria over the weekend.

“The scrum is the Bulls’ strength,” said Redelinghuys. “They target the scrum for penalties. They kick to the corner and maul.

“We did not concede a penalty in 18 scrums, and that was massive. But Benetton will be another good scrum challenge.”

Redelinghuys added that the Lions had discussed the Bulls’ late flurry of points at the end of the game at Loftus. The Lions conceded 14 late points.

“We were up 43-17 with five minutes left,” he said. “We can’t concede soft moments like that. Big moments win games, and we’re getting better, but that’s an area to fix, and those are the type of things we need to eliminate.”