Lions eager to right the wrongs of last outing against Ospreys

Mike Greenaway

The Lions have been haunted by their shock loss at home to the Ospreys in January, and this weekend, they have a chance to exorcise their demons.

Assistant coach Ricardo Loubscher said they are still hurting after surrendering a commanding lead to eventually lose 38-28, with the Welshmen scoring three tries in the last eight minutes.

Now the Ospreys host a Lions team in Swansea on Saturday (5.05pm kick-off, SA time) that haven’t forgotten the error of their ways and are riding high after the historic defeat of Connacht in Galway, the first time a South African team have won there.

“We have just discussed that Ospreys game in a meeting, and we still can’t believe how we lost focus for 10 minutes towards the end,” Loubscher said yesterday. “We took the foot off the gas after scoring some brilliant tries in the first half, and let them into the game.

“It also shows how tough they are because when we opened the door for them, they did the rest. So, we want to rectify what happened, and hopefully we can be on the right side of the result.”

Off to Swansea we go for Round 13 of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship against Ospreys.

🆚 @ospreys
🗓: Sat, 30 Mar
⏰: 17:05
🏟 : https://t.co/OMKxFctw2g Stadium #LionsPride🦁 pic.twitter.com/aA58VKd991

— Lions (@LionsRugbyCo) March 25, 2024

Loubscher said team spirit has rocketed in the Lions camp, and that it is vital that the energy is channelled in the right direction.

“There is a nice gees. A win away on tour always creates energy. There is a great vibe. We take a lot of confidence out of beating them (Connacht) with 14 men, but we know we have to get back to preparing as best we can.”

It was prop Asenathi Ntlabakanye who was sent off in the 14th minute for a reckless charge on a Connacht player, after a tap- penalty had been taken 5m from the Lions’ tryline.

Ntlabakanye is a crowd favourite for his big hits, but he got it wrong with his charge, and his teammates had to dig deep. “Asenathi is an important player for us and a popular team man,” Loubscher said. “Sometimes in a game, it is a roll of the dice when you go in for a hit and you get your tackle height wrong.

“They are strict in that area, but hopefully he will go okay in his hearing. Otherwise, we are happy with the depth we have over here.

“The red card put us under a lot of pressure, but that is when you find out things about yourselves,” Loubcher continued.

“We are proud of the mindset the guys showed to shrug it off and fight on.

“Now we have the opportunity to go again this weekend, and we want to get excited about this chance to win again.”

Lousncher said the players were nursing plenty of bumps and bruises, but there were no serious casualties.

mike.greenaway@inl.co.za