Lions captain Marius Louw stated situations had been utterly totally different popping out for the second half from what they began with.
The Lions confirmed spectacular composure to deal with a prolonged weather delay and troublesome situations to nonetheless energy their solution to a powerful 40-10 win over the Sharks in their United Rugby Championship (URC) derby at Ellis Park on Saturday.
After a aggressive first half that noticed the Lions main 19-10 on the break, a large storm blew in bringing torrential rain and lightning which led to the beginning of the second half being delayed by 40 minutes.
ALSO READ: Lions v Sharks URC derby – Six potential match winners
Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen defined that they needed to abruptly change up their normal halftime debrief when information of the delay filtered via.
“To be honest, we left the guys all to themselves for at least 20 minutes. We knew the chances of going back onto the field in the usual window were very slim,” stated Van Rooyen.
“We had been about to start out with our regular protocol earlier than we heard the information of the delay, and we then stated to one another we’re in all probability going to have to sit down right here for some time.
“So, I told them to relax, refuel and rehydrate. After that period, we debriefed on the first half, prepared for the warm-up, and were ready to play. After what we have spoken about over the past two weeks, seeing the guys reaction to that (tricky) situation was really pleasant.”
Completely totally different situations
Lions captain Marius Louw stated situations had been utterly totally different popping out for the second half, from the dry and sunny situations that they’d began the match in and that they needed to play the lengthy sport as they received used to issues earlier than kicking on in direction of the tip of the match with three late tries.
“Coming (back) out I could actually feel my boots sink into the ground more. It was very wet and the ball was spinning out. So we spoke about focusing on our set piece and that was actually what got us onto the front foot,” defined Louw.
“Conditions had been actually robust in the start (of the second half) and we had been actually lucky to get via to the opposite facet.
“It was somewhat little bit of a checkers sport in the start. You attempt to search for the house. They had been giving us a little bit of operating room as a result of they had been attempting to cowl the house (in the again area). They had been attempting to vary their photos as nicely.
“So we were just making sure to read the situation as it is and to adapt to that and it came off for us in the end.”
Although the Lions keep 11th on the URC log after the bonus level win, they’ve introduced themselves again into the highest eight battle, with them one level off two groups above them and three factors off Benetton in eighth.
Source link
