Lions head coach Ivan van Rooyen said he is confident about his side’s preparation during the interval, where hard work has been happening behind the scenes. The Lions will travel on Saturday to Pretoria to face the Vodacom Bulls at 14:00 (SA Time) for Round 7 of the United Rugby Championship.
“We had a week off and then three weeks of hard work,” van Rooyen said. “Some good work, some hard work. Physical work, Lions identity work. We feel we really had an exceptional three weeks.”
Reflecting on previous seasons, ‘Cash’ believes the team is better prepared going into the second block of the tournament, and there’s no greater test than against the Vodacom Bulls at Loftus to kick off the stanza.
“Last year, a large part of the group didn’t get a rest. This time, we feel a lot better prepared for the second block, which traditionally we haven’t been that strong in.”
“We spoke about it quite a bit. We need to be a lot more consistent in the second block. There’s travel, rotation, all the local derbies, we were open and honest about it, and we need to be better.”
Lions captain Francke Horn earlier this week spoke about the physical battle his men are expecting on Saturday, an aspect of the game which comes standard when these two giants clash. Furthermore, one can’t overlook the bragging rights for the title of Gauteng’s finest rugby outfit.
“I know both teams are hungry for the victory,” he said. “I don’t expect anything less than a big, physical set-piece battle.”
“We’ve come very close a few times at Loftus,” Horn said. “It’s bragging rights in terms of Gauteng. You get two chances, and you want to take them with both hands.”