Lions are getting better ‘but still not clinical enough’

Cape Town - Now is the time to stick together and become more clinical. That was the message from Lions captain Jaco Kriel to his team after their 21-13 United Rugby Championship defeat to the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

While a sixth loss in eight matches sees the Lions in 14th position on the URC log with just 12 points, they showed much more determination in defence, in particular, to stay in the game at a wet Loftus, compared with the previous week’s 34-10 loss at Ellis Park.

Even though they conceded three tries, the Lions managed to disrupt the Bulls’ rhythm on attack, and prevented the Pretoria side from scoring a fourth try for a bonus point.

So, while the Lions are still far from where they would like to be as a team, Kriel was encouraged by the reaction from the players after a few harsh words during the week, and he felt they had enough chances to beat the Bulls.

“It’s never nice to say such things, but it also doesn’t help if you sit in the change-room and lie to each other that it’s this and that,” Kriel said.

“We looked each other in the eye and on Monday, we took the shots in the video sessions, and everybody was singled out who needed to be singled out, and we worked on that.

“I think as a group, if you as a player can’t handle that positive criticism and work on it, then you don’t belong in the professional era.

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“So, we worked really hard on that this (last) week, and looked each other in the eye and said that the scoreboard may not be on our side a few times, and things may not go our way, but one thing that must never be questioned is effort and intent, and I think the guys did really well in this game.”

Coach Ivan van