Dragons win crucial, as Lions focus on getting better – Roux
· Citizen
Lions forwards coach Wessel Roux says that a win over the Dragons in their United Rugby Championship (URC) match at Ellis Park on Saturday is crucial, as they strive to keep improving.
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It has been a good couple of months for the Lions, with them on a three match winning run, they are seventh on the URC log, hammered Edinburgh over the past weekend, and recently picked up the SA Shield, so the team are in a confident frame of mind.
But their main goal for the season is finishing in the URC top eight to make the playoffs for the first time, and they know that they can’t afford to slip up at home, especially against the 15th on the log Dragons.
“The mood in the camp is good. It is definitely positive. But we realise that the Dragons present a huge threat and are a quality side. So our focus started back at zero on Monday as we prepare for a new game,” explained Roux.
“It’s crucial for us to get a win. Our focus this whole week has been to look to the future. The Dragons are good side and difficult to play against. They played extremely well against the Stormers.
“So a win is important for us, but the main focus is on ourselves and making sure that we keep getting better every game.”
The Lions forwards produced a bit of a mixed performance against Edinburgh over the weekend, excelling in some areas, but struggling a bit in the scrums, and they will want to improve on that against the Dragons.
Set piece
“It was a real good set piece team that we faced in Edinburgh. Boan Venter (soon to be Lions prop), is a world class player,” said Roux.
“So I felt some of the inconsistencies we felt were due to playing a really good set piece team. Sometimes your plans work and sometimes they don’t against teams like that, but they were all small fixable things that we are working on this week.
“But overall I feel the pack did quite well. One of the things that stood out was our contesting plan and putting the Edinburgh lineout under pressure was a big positive.
“Our own lineout was functioning well and we were very happy with the one maul try we scored, so we want to continue that good work against Dragons.”
Despite them sitting second bottom on the URC log, Roux warned that the Dragons posed a lot of danger, and if the Lions weren’t at their best, could find themselves in a difficult position in the match.
“The Dragons are a competent side. They are very physical, they have a good maul stop, their lineout functions really well and their attacking mauls and scrums are good,” added Roux.
“So from a forwards perspective they have a really balanced pack and they don’t have many weaknesses, which makes them dangerous.”