Lions hunting a fresh start
THE Emirates Lions, along with fellow South Africa franchises the Bulls, Sharks and Stormers, will be stepping into the unknown this weekend, and the Joburgers specifically will hope that he newly constituted United Rugby Championship (URC) will offer them an opportunity to rediscover themselves.
It has been an underwhelming season so far for the men from Doornfontein.
A less than optimal Rainbow
Cup campaign was followed by a disastrous Currie Cup outing.
Management and supporters alike will, therefore, hope that the failings of those two tournaments have been put behind them as they prepare for Italian club Zebre on Friday in the opening match of the URC.
Yesterday, new defence coach and Springbok legend Jaque Fourie expressed his belief that the Lions have been indeed working hard on rectifying those short-comings.
“Yes, I think we will,” said the former Bok centre when asked if the woes encountered earlier this season have been put behind them.
“We’ve had to do that very quickly because we are not going into a Currie Cup.
“We are going into a competition where we are going to play international players week-in, weekout.
“So, we’ve had to put that all behind us and start on a new page and just get everyone onto the same page as to what we want to achieve and what our goals are for the next few weeks.”
These woes to be corrected will certainly involve the defence, which was often guilty of slipping too many one-on-one tackles, and also exposing the backline out wide.
During his time at the Boks, Mossie - as Fourie was fondly nicknamed - was considered one of the defence generals in the squad.
His international experience in that department will, therefore, be invaluable to head coach Ivan van Rooyen and the squad at large.
Moreover, if one was to read between the lines, then the Lions have no doubt also been working their work-rate at the breakdown, protecting possession at the ruck, and their general game-management, all of which were exposed this season.
The early URC goal is then simple. Said Fourie: “Firstly, we want a positive result this weekend.
“We are going into a four-week tour,” he continued, “and if we can kick off our first game with a win, it is just going to make it so much easier moving forward.
“We are pretty much focused on what we want to do, what we want to achieve this weekend, because it is a new competition.”
Fourie, meanwhile, admitted that the new coaching structure has not had enough opportunity to impose their new philosophy on the squad.
The former Lions man, along with forwards coach Albert van den Berg and Ricardo Loubscher (backline, attack and skills coach), were only unveiled in their new positions on September 1.
“It is for this reason that ’The Pride’ should not expect a massive deviation regarding the team’s approach and gameplan.
“It has been a bit challenging because of the time we’ve had with the team,” Fourie explained.
“After the Currie Cup, it has been only two weeks we’ve had.
The basics will stay the same with a tweak here or there.
“If we came in now and changed everything, it will be very disruptive for the team. So, we’ve tried to keep most of the stuff the same with a tweak here or there.”
The Lions are expected to name their team today, although this was not confirmed at the time by Fourie, who hinted at sometime later this week.