The most revealing stats in Lions' URC slump
Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen is adamant his team is making progress in their drive to close the gap on their South African rivals in the United Rugby Championship.
Not only are they in 13th place on the standings, nine points behind the eight-placed Sharks in the URC play-off race, but it is their form against domestic rivals that is most concerning.
The Lions have lost their last nine fixtures against fellow South African franchises in the URC – going back to their 37-19 win over the Stormers in Cape Town back in December 2021.
The Sharks, whom the Lions host in a Round 14 encounter at Ellis Park on Saturday, have won all five previous encounters with their Johannesburg-based rivals.
Their last encounter was a 37-10 demolition by the Sharks of the Lions in Durban in December last year.
However, there are other more revealing stats that epitomises the Lions’ current woes.
The Lions have scored the fewest tries in the URC (30), averaging just 2.5 per match.
Stand-in captain Marius Louw has missed more tackles (32), allowed as many offloads in the tackle (12) and dropped more balls (15 unforced errors) than any other player.
In contrast, he has made the most dominant tackles (18).
Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen said the ‘physicality’ of the other South African franchises is the main reason for their domestic woes.
“They also play a bit more [of a] dynamic [game],” he told @rugby365com.
“They keep you under constant pressure,” Van Rooyen said.
He admitted the Lions will have to “chance their arm” a bit more on attack if they are to end their dry spell in the South African conference.
“We will have to force them to make tackles and take the attack to them,” the coach said, adding: “If you just sit back, kick and defend – with the speed of the outside backs of all the South African teams – they will punish you.”
He said there will be ‘subtle differences’ from game to game, based on the defensive patterns of the opposition.
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“We are working extremely hard on our attack.
“It is a combination of confidence [in our attack] and chancing our arm a bit.”
He hinted they may opt for a few more ’50-50′ offloads and not just go through the motions of phase and play from ruck to ruck.
“The South African teams are very similar to what [Irish provinces] Leinster and Ulster can do to you.
“If you just keep on forcing rucks the defensive systems and conditioning are good enough to force turnovers.
“We have to be more dynamic on attack and with our kicking game.”
Van Rooyen added that the point of difference of the top teams – Leinster, Stormers, Ulster, Bulls, Sharks and Munster – is their attacking and defensive kicking games.
“It [the kicking game] has been a work-on for us on tour, because of the conditions, but also back home we have worked hard on that.”
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* Picture credit: @LionsRugbyCo
