Lions lose key Bok forward ahead of Munster 'play-off'
REACTION: The Lions will be without one of their Springbok forwards for their final United Rugby Championship round robin clash against Munster on Saturday.
One Test Bok Ruan Venter left the field in the fourth minute in the Lions’ 7-31 defeat to Leinster at the Aviva Stadium, with Venter displaying visible pain as he clutched his knee.
Lions Head coach Ivan van Rooyen confirmed that Venter returned to South Africa to undergo scans on his knee and hopes that the extent of the damage isn’t too bad.
“Unfortunately, Ruan Venter flew back [to South Africa] last night [Sunday] to get scans on his knee.
“We hope it’s not horrible news, but he is in quite a bit of discomfort and pain.
“We’re waiting to see the results of the scan. The rest [of the team] at this stage is just bumps and bruises, luckily there’s nothing major otherwise.”
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Van Rooyen lamented soft defensive moments against Leinster that made the scoreline flattering to the home side.
Leinster were up by merely seven points until the 68th minute before Hugo Keenan, Rieko Ioane, and Jimmy O’Brien scored three tries to take the game away from the Lions to deny them any points from the match.
“We showed some great character to fight back.
“Around the 68th minute, there were three sequences where I felt we had a few tough calls against us with the score being at 14-7.
“We could’ve won a couple of penalties and earned some territory, but unfortunately, we made three defensive errors, which led to three tries [to Leinster].
“So up to the 68th minute, I felt that we had swung the momentum back into our favour with an opportunity for us to do something special against Leinster.
“Unfortunately, in those 10 minutes, we conceded those three tries, which throws the scoreline a bit off, but we had to be better.
“If you make three defensive errors against a quality Leinster team away, they will punish you.”
Van Rooyen also lamented the missed opportunities his side didn’t capitalise on.
“We created moments where we couldn’t capitalise on, and before you know it, the game ran away from you.”
Heading into the clash against Munster, who are two points behind the Lions after their away defeat to Connacht, Van Rooyen is wary that, despite having questions answered around permutations following Friday evening’s fixtures, the Lions will still have to treat the fixture as a play-off to make the quarterfinals.
“The big focus this week is obviously on Munster.
“We can’t leave anything to chance this week if one looks at the fixtures head-to-head on Friday evening.
“One or two games [on Friday] might show you what is needed, but from my side, we’ll see the Munster fixture as a must-win game for both teams who require the points to go through.
“We will keep the permutations up to us, and that’s our mindset.”
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