Wounded Lions hope to roar louder on URC overseas tour

Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen says his side will have to be clinical in their first overseas tour of the new United Rugby Championship season.

The Johannesburg-based franchise will spend the next three weeks in Wales and Scotland as they take on Ospreys this Saturday, Cardiff Rugby next and then conclude their tour next month against Edinburgh on October 7. 

The Lions will travel abroad a bit deflated after they lost their opening URC game to the Bulls at the weekend, going down 31-15 to their fiercest local rivals.

Looking forward to the tour, the Lions have named a 26-man squad. Lions head honcho Van Rooyen said they were excited about the prospect of the tour and would take lessons from the outings from last season. 

“We are excited to go to Wales for two weeks and then Scotland,” said Van Rooyen. 

“The biggest lesson from our first trip overseas (last season) was that we are probably going to play against ten internationals, so their game management and discipline it top-notch, you can’t afford to make errors.

“We have to be a lot more clinical in terms of game management, especially against those three teams. Ospreys have a handful of British and Irish Lions in their spine, Cardiff is a tough team and Edinburg will threaten you at speed at play and a massive attacking game as well.

“That last 20-25 minutes is an area that we need to be squeaky clean in the next three weeks. Collectively, as a team, we have to be disciplined in the disciplines. You play a little bit different there, we experienced it last year. The scrum is a little bit higher, the game is quicker and the kicking game is a bit different because of the different bounces,” he said. 

Van Rooyen confirmed that young talented flyhalf Jordan Hendrikse would be good to play in the tour after there were fears of an injury after he went off limping in the game against the Bulls.