Lions refuse to dwell on Cardiff defeat as URC play-off race heats up

The Lions cannot afford to dwell on their frustrating loss to Cardiff, if they are to achieve their objective of reaching the play-offs of the United Rugby Championship (URC). And rest assured, they very much believe that they are part of that conversation and deserve to be in the Top 8 mix, according to JC Pretorius.

The Lions flanker admitted on Tuesday, during a media briefing from Glasgow, that the Joburg-based side had stumbled in their recent 20-17 defeat but that there was still time to rectify and right the ship in the coming weeks, starting with the Glasgow Warriors on Saturday (kick-off 9.35pm).

That belief will be needed in spades as they finish off the URC regular season with games against the defending champions, followed by a home stretch of matches against Benetton, Connacht, Scarlets, and the Ospreys.

“I feel, especially in this competition, if you stumble along the road or lose a game, you can't go back to that defeat, because you will lose sight of your next job,” said Pretorius. “I wouldn't say our backs are against the wall, but I know we can fight our way out of this, and we definitely deserve to be in the Top 8.”

“From a player's perspective,” Pretorius added, looking back at the loss, “you can't let your emotions get the better of you during the game. I think we let ourselves down. Every time we entered the 22, we made errors, and they just capitalised on that.”

The Lions dominated Cardiff in almost every aspect of the game this past weekend. They had more possession, more territory, made more passes, beat more defenders, won more turnovers, and secured more than double the rucks of their hosts. 

They made nearly a third fewer tackles than Cardiff and missed fewer tackles as well. They won every line-out and lost only one scrum. And yet, when put together, they could not turn their dominance into a winning formula.

“If you look at those stats,” said Lions coach Julian Redelinghuys, sitting next to Pretorius, “you would think the team dominated.

“I think Cardiff were smarter on the evening … we were slow to react to the kicking game and to make sure we secured those balls. We were slow to react and fix our attacking breakdown early in the game, where they actually made it really slow and ugly for us. We could have controlled that better.

“It was a really frustrating game,” Redelinghuys continued, “and an unfortunate result for us.

“Even though we really didn't play the way we wanted to and didn't do what we aimed to, we still had the opportunity to win it in the end. Unfortunately, we couldn't get it over the line.

“There’s a lot for us to fix this week. I'm sure the guys will respond well after this weekend’s disappointment.”

With that in mind, Redelinghuys, Pretorius, and Co will be keenly aware that Glasgow are arguably the most wily and street-smart outfit in the competition, and failing to attach a cerebral plan to their tactics this weekend could end in disaster for the Lions.

Previous seasons have indicated that to sneak into the play-offs a team needs, on average, 50 points. The Lions are currently 13th in the standings on 30 points.

They are in a logjam along with 11 other teams — from 15th-placed Zebre on 27 points to fifth-placed Cardiff on 35. The Lions have a maximum of 25 maximum points in hand – an uncomfortably close margin to the 50-point threshold. So, while they have proven that they possess all the tools to dominate opposition – Cardiff as proof – they must learn some nuance as quickly as possible.

That could be the difference in the coming weeks, and then, as Pretorius points out, they will deserve to be in the Top 8.