Embattled Lions welcome Springbok coaches' visit but insist no sweeping suggestions made

The embattled Lions are hopeful the dying embers of their United Rugby Championship (URC) are fanned again by a visit from the Springbok coaching staff this week.

Jacques Nienaber and co are in Johannesburg as part of a series of alignment camps and gave extensive input at the franchise's training sessions ahead of Sunday's meeting with the Cardiff Blues at Ellis Park.

The Lions remain win-less in nine matches across both the URC and Currie Cup in 2022 to date and desperately need to find inspiration and a balanced on-field approach with punching power.

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"It's been lovely to have the Springbok coaches visiting for two days," said Lions' attack and skills coach Ricardo Loubscher."It's all about building relationships and sharing knowledge on both sides in terms of feedback on some of the players."It's lovely to have a different voice talking about the same thing and to get a bit of confirmation in terms of what we want to achieve, but also those one or two ideas that can make a difference."

Indeed, the Lions have - to their credit - maintained from the outset that they needed to implement and work on a more pragmatic game plan more appropriate for European competition after their successful, more attractive approach in Super Rugby under Johan Ackermann and Swys de Bruin became increasingly more wayward.

Results have, perhaps predictably, mirrored the team's difficulty in adapting, but the Bok coaching staff haven't come in and made sweeping suggestions.

Basic auditing

"It’s not so much about them trying to tell us what to do. It’s more about getting a better understanding from our side of what is working for them and just maybe tap into