'It was a terrible performance'

Head coach Mziwakhe Nkosi could not contain his frustration with the Lions’ first-half display during their Currie Cup 41-26 win over Griffons on Friday.

On the back of two consecutive defeats, the Lions started the Round three fixture in horrendous fashion.

They conceded two tries and had to rally from 12-23 down at the break.

A hat-trick of tries from scrumhalf Nico Steyn and a five-pointer from Raynard Roets in the second stanza made up for their poor start and handed them their first victory of the season.

“It is a win, but it was a terrible performance,” Lions coach Mziwakhe Nkosi revealed after the match.

“It is not a performance we can be proud of, obviously we take the five points.”

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The coach continued: “We started off poorly and had to dig ourselves out of a hole and that has probably been the story of our season.

“But we have to change it sooner rather than later.”

The coach admitted some harsh words were exchanged during the break.

“What was said at the break is probably not suitable for family viewing and hearing but it was nothing that wasn’t the truth.

“We glad we got the win but it was too close for comfort.”

He added: “We have to keep going.

” There are 11 weeks to go so we are still excited and we just have to make sure our performance is much better.”

Sharing his sentiments following the dramatic ending, the hat-trick hero Nico Steyn hopes the victory is a turning point for the Gauteng side.

“It was a massive one,” Steyn said in the aftermath of the win.

“As a team, we knew we had to get a W somewhere and if there was one game we can get one we knew it was this game.

“We were our own enemies in the first half but the players put up their hands in the second half and put in a  good performance.”

“The first win of the season as a Union it was something special and we will definitely feed off this one.”

The Lions will face the Sharks in Round four on April 1.