Johannesburg — Never mind conceding 15 tries in the last three matches, the Lions biggest concern will probably be their flailing attack.
With ball-in-hand, the Lions have faffed and flapped about, lacking a cutting edge that results in converting their limited opportunities into points. Against the Sharks and the Stormers, the Joburgers defence was substandard, but it was much-improved against Munster, despite surrendering 33 points to the Irish side.
In Cork, the Lions attempted a mammoth 222 tackles as a relentless Munster turned the screws on the visitors. They slipped 39 tackles in the process and as much as a worry that should be, their failure to create their own scoreboard pressure in recent weeks is having a massive impact on their game plan.
Their opponents have had it relatively easy, controlling the narrative of their match-ups without much stress being placed upon their own defensive systems. They have dictated the terms of the engagement due to the simple fact that the Lions have been unable to score and create doubt that only pressure can create.
No real-time decision has been interrogated, and the game-management and decision making has been a breeze as a result.
On Tuesday, Lions attack coach Ricardo Loubscher revealed where he believes his team are coming up short as they prepare for the return fixture of the EPCR Challenge Cup against Stade Francais this weekend.
Said Loubscher: “It is a mixture of a lot of things …
“We need a good base to attack from in our set piece — that is one — and if you look at the teams applying the rush defence, they are stopping our ball carries behind the gain line.
“That is one of the things that we discussed and it has been a work-on for us this week. We are working on our ball carries, getting quick ball and once we get behind teams, making good decisions and being more clinical.
“The last two days that has been a focus for us — that final pass, that final play, identifying and exploiting space.”
It has been noticeable in the past few weeks that the Lions big ball carriers — Ruan Venter, Emmanuel Tshituka and Marius Louw, to name a few and without casting aspersions — have failed to generate front-foot ball by smashing over the gain line.
This, too, has been noted by Loubscher and Co.
“We are a little bit static on attack, especially (in our) shape of nine and 10,” Loubscher explained. “The teams are clever, they are a little bit smarter here.
“They tackle you behind the gain line, so the solution for us is to be a little bit more in motion. We started with small-sided games to address it the last two days.
“We want our forwards to be in motion. We need to shift the point of contact.
“Munster, what they got right, was that they tackled us behind the gain line and we didn’t have a lot of variation in our attack. That will be a focus for us going into the Stade Francais game.”
The Pride will be praying on the fitness of Jordan Hendrikse and Henco van Wyk for the clash against the Pink Army on Saturday (kick-off 3pm), and there were some positive, yet tentative, updates from Loubscher regarding the backline duo, and a handful of other squad players.
“On Henco, we have some good news,” said Loubscher.
“We started (Tuesday) with agility work and he joined us for units but the doctor (Rob Collins) and Pam (Watts), our physio, will make a final call on Thursday.
Jordy is also busy with straight line running, and Morgan (Naude) is doing the same. Ruan, with his groin; there is a little bit of concern regarding him.”
Meanwhile, the United Rugby Championship confirmed on Tuesday that the Lions’ postponed home game against Glasgow Warriors will take place on Saturday, February 25 at 4.10pm.
The encounter was originally cancelled due to Warriors experiencing gastrointestinal distress and, therefore, they could not honour the fixture at the time in October.
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