Lions must fix costly defensive errors, ill-discipline to avoid another URC tour defeat

Lions lock Etienne Oosthuizen carries the ball into contact with two Edinburgh defenders attempting to tackle him. Oosthuizen picked up an injury in the URC clash and the Lions are sweating over his fitness ahead of their final tour match against Glasgow Warriors.

Image: Craig Watson / INPHO / Shutterstock

The Lions are bracing themselves for some running rugby from Glasgow Warriors as they attempt to salvage some pride in their final United Rugby Championship (URC) tour clash on Friday evening.

Following a crushing 31-10 loss to Edinburgh this past Friday, the Johannesburg side have one more battle ahead of the November international break to get their URC campaign back on track. Facing former champions Glasgow, the Lions will need to up their game after struggling in their previous two away matches or risk their season spiralling before it has even properly started.

The Lions have endured a tough two weeks on tour so far following the death of their teammate Hyron Andrews in France ahead of their Champions Cup debut. Although they have been playing under difficult circumstances, they have shown enough fight to cause an upset in the final game.

But Lions head coach Ivan van Rooyen has warned that if they are as loose and ill-disciplined against the Warriors, particularly on defence, as they were in Edinburgh, they could be in for a tough battle.

“We know Glasgow is a team that wants to play, and if your discipline isn’t good, they're going to kick it to the corner and maul you with 10 or 12 players. So discipline is important for next week,” he said.

“We also made three poor defensive decisions against Edinburgh and all three ended up in tries. So, this is obviously something we need to look at this week. And then on the attack, we lost a bit of shape as well, and didn’t really get momentum early on. That makes it difficult in the wet conditions. If you don’t get momentum on the attack, then you have to go into a kicking game and hope to get the ball back or hope for favourable outcomes.

“So, we have a lot of small things we need to work on this week.”

The Lions will also hope big lock Etienne Oosthuizen will be fit and available for their clash. Oosthuizen was a massive presence in defence and at the attacking breakdown, but left the field with an injury.

He poached a couple of balls from Edinburgh on the ground and made a few strong tackles and carries in the rainy conditions. But when he was replaced, the Lions struggled to protect their possession at ruck time.

“His abilities and weight in these conditions were invaluable to us,” Van Rooyen added.

“He also played in Europe for a very long time, so he is familiar with rugby here and the physical demand there is. His weight in the lineouts and scrums are worth gold and his loss was a massive setback. Etienne is also playing very good rugby at the moment.

“Dylan (Sjoblom, lock) is a great athlete and he brings a different dynamic, but we missed Etienne’s weight against Edinburgh.”