Lions’ struggles highlighted in Jukskei derby defeat to Bulls
The Lions will be licking their wounds after they were trampled by the Bulls in Saturday’s home Jukskei derby in the United Rugby Championship.
In the aftermath of the 37-22 loss, Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen and skipper and No 8 Francke Horn were honest about their shortcomings, yet both feel there are plenty of positives to build on.
The Lions struggled with their kick-off and receipts at times at Ellis Park, with the Bulls chasers having a field day, and Van Rooyen felt they should have coped better with the exit strategy.
Said Horn: “The disappointing thing is we work on that every day, so in the moment (it came down) to decision-making, comms, execution.
“I don’t say it with disrespect that we’re going to start working on it because it happened, but it’s not like we’re not working on it. So, it’s also probably the level of the bench in terms of experience that made the difference … it’s due to silly errors.”
Skipper Horne, who has been one of the standout Lions players, had a rather subdued game, by his standards. He bemoaned a sluggish start from his team, in the face of an early Bulls onslaught that was not unexpected.
“If you look at the Bulls stats, they score a lot of points within the first 20 minutes, so we knew they were going to come,” he said.
Horne felt they did well to recover after weathering that early storm, though.
“Look, we scrambled really well, we fixed each other’s mistakes and that kept us in the game and slowly but surely we started getting points, we started getting in the right areas,” he said.
“It’s not that we don’t know how to do it and that’s where the disappointment comes.
“Why can’t we do the same in the last 20 minutes?
“And that comes (down) to the occasion, guys, especially the leaders in the team including myself keeping everybody calm … and then just executing your basics and then less silly errors will happen.”
62’ | Etienne Ooooostuizen goes over the try line.
— Lions (@LionsRugbyCo) January 25, 2025
Emirates Lions 22 – 23 Vodacom Bulls#LIOvBUL #ForOurCity@vodacom #URC | #HitsDifferent pic.twitter.com/tbYrIkeQPf
Much of the credit for the Bulls’ commanding display in the second half was put down to the quality in depth of their bench. It was something that the Lions are not blessed with.
“I won’t necessarily say it’s a concern,” Van Rooyen said.
“Last week against the Dragons they did really well. Yes, different game, different pressure but because of the level of squads in South Africa, it’s a 23-man effort anyway. Hopefully, next time we sit here, we can say they (the substitutes) were the difference.”
The overall report card from the coach was a mixed one, however.
“At stages I think out set piece was really good. Our scrums after that first penalty were solid. It allowed us to play a little bit,” he said.
“At defence, some stages we were rock-solid, good movement, good decision-making, stopping momentum against their big runners.
Our attack, the first 20 probably weren’t dynamic enough. I think that last 20 in the first half (we were) a lot better, getting momentum, hiding the space, playing into space. Probably in one or two breakdowns in the last 10 minutes we got a little isolated in attack, and that speaks to work rate.”