Bonus point the silver lining says Lions' Horn
REACTION: The Lions’ No. 8 Francke Horn feels the silver lining from their 17-24 loss to Ulster was the one point they managed to get out of the game.
Despite a run of losses on tour, the Lions have been bagging bonus points on the trot with a host of close encounters, losing by small margins in every game.
The Lions are languishing 13th on the log, but their five bonus points will keep them in the hunt towards the business part of the competition. Zebre is the only other team with five bonus points.
“The little silver lining is that we got one point out of the game, but I know that the guys were desperate for the win,” Horn said after the game.
“Obviously there were one or two errors from the top of my head, the two kick-offs that put us under pressure and where we conceded points.
“But the effort and the desperateness and the fight couldn’t be questioned. The guys left everything on the field.
“Unfortunately we couldn’t get it. It is a really tight group of guys, we are fighting really hard to get the results.
“It didn’t happen tonight but we can’t wait to get back to South Africa and play in front of the fans and entertain them with scoring tries and getting some wins,” he concluded.
Coach Ivan van Rooyen indicated that his side was desperate for an historic win in their match on tour.
“Disappointed with the result and felt we were really in it and gave ourselves a real opportunity to come away with an historic win. Probably one kick-off receive and one or two scrum penalties away from that,” Van Rooyen said.
“We’re good enough to compete, and good enough to really turn the team around and probably go within the top four or five in the competition.
“Speaking to Ulster afterwards, the tempo we played at really put them under pressure.
“Individual errors and one or two system errors we need to work on, but there’s great fight and great character in the team. There’s a lot to get excited about and we need to convert them into wins.
“It’s probably 25 degrees different in SA now, but we as a team want to be proud of our toughness; when the weather or the circumstances get tough that’s when we want to stand up especially. Immensely proud of the fight and adapting to the conditions.”
The Lions head home where they will prepare to host Zebre at Ellis Park next Saturday.
