Emirates Lions head coach Ivan van Rooyen is happy with their growth, despite their disappointing defeat 10-17 against Munster over the past weekend.
Van Rooyen said he believes the Lions are making progress and building towards something great, despite them going down to Munster over the past weekend.
The Lions led 10-07 at the halftime break but followed that up with a poor second half in which they could not add points to the scoreboard while Munster scored two tries to secure the win.
“The focus for us now is to work on what we need to do better. Apart from the South African teams, and Glasgow currently, I don’t think there are tougher away games than Leinster and Munster,"
“For instance the progress in our kicking game between Leinster and Munster is huge. Also, our ability to transfer pressure back and give ourselves a chance to play in better areas has also improved.
“We are making a lot of progress. The frustration is just that we had an opportunity to do something special and unfortunately didn’t take it.”
“We lost the pressure and dominance in the last 20 minutes.
“We know they get really tight if you tend to pick and go, but also the ball was quite wet. To move it isn’t always that easy.
“They also get off the line quite hard because they are so tight.
“I think we lost the battle in the air in the last 20 minutes.”
“I think we need to work on our decision-making and the balance of what is needed at the moment. Is it to run with momentum and quick ball, or kick on front foot ball? Or if we are under pressure do we try to transfer that pressure back,” Van Rooyen said.