Emirates Lions backline, attack and skills coach Ricardo Loubscher explained the three pillars of why the Lions have suddenly emerged as a team that has not lost a game without a bonus point while they have recorded some sterling victories as well.
“I think for me firstly it’s about continuity with the squad and coaches and secondly just around clarity on how we want to play the game,” Loubscher said.
“And thirdly we had a great pre-season where we could really work on out fitness, all the fundamentals, the style we want to play.
“It’s a lot of things, but those three stand out for me.”
“We haven’t lost a game without a bonus point yet this season. From the start of the season we have been climbing and we are going to keep climbing and going forward and hopefully getting more wins. And building on the momentum we have at the moment." said Scrumhalf Morné van den Berg.
“I think it’s been coming for a while and we are only starting to see it now,” he predicted.
While some criticised the ugly win against Perpignan, Loubscher said it was the right game plan, although he admitted although not attractive, it was winning rugby.
“It was winning rugby, not ugly,” Loubscher said. “We had a look at Perpignan, and they are a team that loves to counter-attack, so our game plan against them was to focus on our game management, turn them around, and use our defence against them as a weapon."
“Luckily for us we got away with a good result. I think the plan to send a different squad worked well for us."
“We basically had two, three days to prep. The boys must get the credit, to come together and gel as a team so quickly, travel for I don’t know how many hours and get the result, we are happy with that."