Lions: The good, bad and ugly
STAT ATTACK: The Lions finished another United Rugby Championship season without reaching the play-offs since the competition’s inception.
The men from Ellis Park’s season started off promising with four consecutive wins before going down away from home to competition favourites Leinster.
Since that defeat, the Lions won merely four out of their next 13 URC games.
It’s not been all doom and gloom. In the final edition of our four-part series, @rugby365com look at the areas where the Lions performed well and others that are in dire need of a fix before next season.
The good: Discipline
Ranked second overall, the Lions conceded the second least penalties throughout the season with Benetton taking the top honour.
They also conceded just one red card and nine yellow cards. The Lions also conceded the fourth least scrum offences (38).
The bad: Attack
Historically, if you think about the Lions, the immediate thought would be that of a side that plays an exciting, open-running game.
The Lions have shown they have the ability to do it throughout the season, most notably in their wins at Ellis Park against the Stormers and Sharks.
Unfortunately, their Achilles heel has been their inability to replicate that form week in and out and their attacking stats tell the story.
The Lions are ranked 13th for points scored (402) and 12th for tries scored (53).
There are some positives as they’re ranked fourth for offloads (192) and defenders beaten (423) which indicates that their issue is converting scoring opportunities into points.
They’re also ranked fifth for metres gained (7088) and clean breaks (144).
The ugly: Defence
The play-off qualifying South African franchises have not done well defensively in the URC and the Lions are no different.
A tackle success rate of 77 percent shows a clear crack in the system which explains why they leaked soft tries throughout the season.
They’re ranked ninth for tackles missed (369) and 12th for tackles made (2728).
On the positive side, the Lions are ranked first for turnovers won, with flanker JC Pretorius leading the competition charge with 25 steals.
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