AUDIO: Lions bemoan 'interesting decisions' in Cardiff

Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen admits they thought they had the game in the bag after fighting back in their United Rugby Championship clash at Arms Park on Friday.

The Lions lost 17-20 to Cardiff, despite launching a ferocious counterattack from their tryline in the dying minutes of the game.

Twice they were ‘held up’ over the line, with Van Rooyen referring to some “interesting decisions” late in the game.

Although the Lions believed they had scored after mauling their way onto the whitewash, the referee viewed the ball as held up.

Van Rooyen admitted that they were convinced they had scored and conceded that the one point gained from this match was not what they were after.

The Lions now travel to Glasgow where they will face a team that will be on a high after beating Munster on Friday.

*Article continues below…

“It’s always tough playing away from home in these conditions, [and] we didn’t adapt quickly enough,” Van Rooyen commented from Cardiff after the game.

“With the log so tight, every single point is big. We got one [losing bonus point].

“Obviously, at the end of the game, we thought we did enough to get the win but with a couple of interesting decisions, we felt.

“Yes, we felt we scored,” he added.

The Lions were hoping to get four points out of the encounter, and have now got their work cut out to remain in Top Eight contention.

Set-piece special 🙌

Ben Donnell finishes off a beautifully crafted lineout move for @Cardiff_Rugby ⚡️ #BKTURC | #URC | #CARvLIO pic.twitter.com/PLRqYb4QTX

— BKT United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial) March 21, 2025

“We are disappointed that we didn’t walk away with four points.

“They probably played the wind a bit better than us.

“A couple of the kicks into the wind fell short. We didn’t manage to catch them out of the air.

“They adapted in the second half better and tactically that worked for them.

“So we are disappointed with that – not having the ability to catch the ball and then launch an attack.

“When we got it right, you could see, that with it being wet and cold, possession wasn’t always the answer, territory was probably more important.”

Similar conditions await the men from Johannesburg in Glasgow and part of the strategy going into their prep this week will be to find out what went wrong with their set-piece, normally their strongpoint.

Their kickers will also be under scrutiny, having lost the aerial battle in the wind.

“So we are off to Glasgow, leaving this afternoon. It is also going to be cold and windy.

“It’s a tough Glasgow team that got a win over Munster so it is going to be important for us to get points.

“Yes, we’ve got four home games, but we are disappointed with the result.

“We felt there were opportunities missed so it is important to get to Glasgow and get as many points as possible.

“When were a little dynamic on attack we looked good. We are disappointed with the try they scored.

“It was too easy and not a good enough defence from us. I think generally the defence was decent,” Van Rooyen summarised.

@rugby365com