VIDEO: Lions face 'season defining' fortnight
The Lions face a season-defining fortnight, starting with hosting European powerhouse Leinster at Ellis Park on Saturday.
The Round 17 United Rugby Championship match comes on the back of being knocked out of the European Challenge Cup by a powerful Glasgow Warriors outfit at the weekend.
The Lions were on top for large spells at Scotstoun, but struggled to make their pressure count.
Now they have to raise the bar considerably.
Having been to Europe and back twice in the last month, the Lions now host an unbeaten Leinster at Ellis Park this coming Saturday and face Zebre in Pretoria a week later.
“It is really important for us to recover well,” Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen said, adding that it is important to get the balance right between preparation and readiness to play.
“Having shown such great growth, I have no doubt we will be ready to take another step forward against the best team in Europe.”
He said it does not matter whether Leinster sends their A or B team, because the margin between the first-choice and back-up squad is so marginal.
“We know we are going to face a quality team.
“This is an important two weeks for us to keep moving forward.”
(Article continues below the Ivan van Rooyen interview …)
He also spoke about the valuable lessons they learnt from playing against quality European teams – beating Racing 92 (51-28) in the Round of 16, before falling to the Warriors (21-31) in the quarterfinals.
It is a lesson Van Rooyen learnt in Super Rugby and that also applies to Europe – home-ground advantage in the play-offs is vital.
“Your chances in the play-offs are a lot better if you are at home,” Van Rooyen told @rugby365com, adding: “The Stormers showed us that [advantage] last year [in the URC].”
“The margins are so small.
“We played against a star-studded international team,” he said of their loss to the Warriors.
“We were in it and at times felt we were good enough to cause an upset.”
However, he felt that the refreshing variety of the opposition in Europe is forcing teams to be flexible.
“The best way to learn, is to experience games like this,” the Lions coach said, adding: “[It is invaluable] playing in a European [Challenge Cup] or URC knock-out game away from home against international players.
“The last six weeks or so we learnt [to adapt] a lot quicker and fixing [errors] on the go.
“The difference between a Test player and a non-Test player is the ability to adapt to what is needed at that moment.
“As a team, we have been really growing and developing in that area.
“In the game against the Warriors that small stuff [margins] was the big stuff.”
Wing Sibahle Maxwane will be ruled out for a couple of games after suffering a concussion in the loss to Glasgow, while flank Ruan Venter will be assessed while also suffering a concussion.
The team also have some really ‘tight and sore’ bodies after a bruising encounter and another very uncomfortable long-haul flight back.
The Lions coach played down the well-documented travel factor.
The coach said they will reassess the players on Wednesday, before deciding on the selection for the matchday squad to face Leinster.
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