How Lions plan to fix 'static attack'
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: The Lions are in desperate need of overturning their fortunes when they take on Stade Francais in the European Challenge Cup on Saturday.
The last time these two teams met, the Lions recorded a convincing 30-12 win over Stade Francais at Ellis Park in December.
However, a lot has changed since then.
Aside from struggling with a growing injury list, the Lions have been in woeful form.
The South Africans are at the back of a 3-33 defeat to Munster in the United Rugby Championship and prior to that were well beaten by Stormers and Sharks.
They have conceded 15 tries in their last three matches and only manage to score two tries.
The lack of attack is a major concern ahead of the Challenge Cup fixture against Stade Francais, who have been enjoying some winning momentum
Speaking to reporters Lions assistant coach Ricardo Loubscher admitted the attack has been static and has called for a little bit of variation against the side from Paris.
“We need a good base to attack from in our set piece,” Loubscher said when asked about the attack.
“If you look at the teams applying the rush defence, they are stopping our ball carriers behind the gain line.
“That is one of the things that we discussed and it has been a work-on for us this week.
“We are working on our ball carries, getting the quick ball and once we get behind teams, making good decisions and being more clinical.”
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He added: “The last two days that has been a focus for us – that final pass, that final play, identifying and exploiting space.
“We are a little bit static on the attack, especially in terms of our shape off nine and 10.
“The teams are clever, they are a little bit smarter here.
“They tackle you behind the gain line, so the solution for us is to be a little bit more in motion. We started with small-sided games to address the problem in the last two days.
“We want our forwards to be in motion. We need to shift the point of contact.
“Munster, what they got right, was that they tackled us behind the gain line and we didn’t have a lot of variation in our attack.
“That will be a focus for us going into the Stade Francais game.”
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Loubscher delivered some hopeful news regarding the injuries of key duo Jordan Hendrikse and Henco Van Wyk.
The pair sustained injuries during the defeat to Munster, while Ruan Venter remains a concern.
“On Henco, we have some good news,” Loubscher said.
“We started with some agility work and he joined us for unite but the doctor [Rob Collins] and our physio [Pam Wattes] will make the final call on Thursday.
“Jordy is also busy with straight-line running and Morgan Naude is doing the same.
“Ruan Venter with his groin there is a little bit of concern.
“But the overall good news in terms of Jordan, Morgan and Henco.”
The Lions will name their team to face Stade Francais on Friday.
