A bruised and bullied Lions workforce will have a point to prove after they finish the yr with a United Rugby Championship (URC) match against the Stormers at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday evening.
The Lions gamers didn’t obtain a very good Christmas current of their sport against the Sharks in Durban final Friday, the place they have been closely defeated 37-10.
Coming up against a equally Springbok laden Stormers aspect, driving excessive on a wave of excellent latest type on their residence floor, will likely be a robust take a look at for the Highveld aspect, however they are going to want to up their sport in the event that they don’t need to undergo the identical destiny of final week.
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Key to that will likely be bettering their defensive effort, which appeared to fall away within the second half against the Sharks, permitting the hosts to run away with the match.
“We got bullied. The Sharks were physically better than us. We had a good look at ourselves and that wasn’t our standard. We will definitely have to pick up our defensive effort if we want to win,” admitted Lions defence coach Jaque Fourie.
“It’s a year ago that we beat them in Cape Town. They have become a different team since then. They have gone on to win the URC and have picked up a lot of momentum,” he added.
“We want to forget about what happened against the Sharks and put our positive energy into beating them (Stormers) on Saturday. They are a quality side with the ball and are good defensively. So we have to be at our best if we want to win.”
The Stormers’ counter-attacking sport is without doubt one of the greatest within the URC and is one thing that Fourie is keenly conscious of and one the Lions will want to defend effectively against in the event that they don’t need to be run off their toes within the match.
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The Bulls have been the newest workforce to be proven how harmful the Stormers could be when in full flight, after a three-try blitz of their sport final week proved decisive.
“The Stormers are very dangerous with counter-attacks. Those three tries they scored in five minutes against the Bulls, it was from an error in the air and then getting the ball and going with it. If you give them any opportunity to counter-ruck or run at you, they will punish you,” stated Fourie.
“We have to stay connected in the defensive line and close their space and time. Otherwise it will be a long day at the office.”
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