Lions' victorious URC stars to get a run in Currie Cup?
The Lions have one match remaining in their inaugural United Rugby Championship season and other than playing for honour and a top 10 finish there is not much riding on their trip to Newport later this month.
Burger Odendaal and his team finished their home fixtures on a winning note, beating a plucky Benetton 37-29 at Ellis Park at the weekend.
Although they won comfortably in the end, it wasn’t plain sailing for Ivan van Rooyen’s team, who failed to convert some early opportunities to score, while allowing Benetton to take control of the match in the second quarter.
However, four tries in 20 minutes shook the visitors as the Lions accelerated in the second and secured their seventh victory of the season.
That leaves them in 11th place on the standings, with 37 points – two points behind the 10th-placed Welsh team Ospreys.
Coach Ivan van Rooyen said they are determined to finish the season on a high when they face the Dragons at Rodney Parade in the city of Newport, South Wales, on May 21.
It leaves the Johannesburg-based franchise with a fortnight of preparations for the season finale.
Van Rooyen pointed out that there are two Currie Cup games his team can utilise to keep his players busy, while the URC goes into a hiatus for the European Cup quarterfinals and semifinals on the weekends of May 7/8 and May 14/15.
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“We will make a calculated decision bout those two [Currie Cup] games,” he said of their encounters with the Round 10 encounter with the Cheetahs at Ellis Park this coming Friday and Round 11 match against the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld a week later.
“We would want to keep as much momentum as possible,” the coach said, adding that it is their first-ever encounter with the Dragons and that will factor into their planning.
Van Rooyen said they will complete all their preparations on home soil and only fly to Newport on the Tuesday.
He said it will be similar to the last couple of Currie Cup games when they used the Currie Cup to provide some game time for the URC players who are ‘short of a gallop’.
Captain Burger Odendaal said it was “great” to get a win in his final game at Ellis Park, before heading off to join English Premiership outfit Wasps ahead of the 2022/23 season.
“You don’t want to remember losses, so I am glad we got the ‘W’,” he said, adding that he still has one URC game left to finally sign off as skipper and midfield general.
He said the Lions will head to Newport with the mindset that they have nothing to lose and can go out and “express themselves” at Rodney Parade.
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