Securing a steady flow of possession from lineouts and keeping cool heads will be crucial for the Lions when they face Glasgow in a United Rugby Championship clash in Scotland on Friday, coach Ivan van Rooyen says.
The Lions are determined to bounce back from a 31-10 defeat against Edinburgh after they failed to capitalise on a promising start last week.
“Glasgow is next for us, third week on tour, so time for us to strap up, get our energy up and see if we can get a result," Van Rooyen said.
"It’s definitely not easy facing Glasgow at the Scotstoun Stadium.
“We know Glasgow are a team that want to play.
"If your discipline isn’t good, they’re going to kick it to the corner and they’re going to maul you with 10 or 12 players. So discipline is important.”
Van Rooyen said improvements needed to be made ahead of the Glasgow clash.
“The lineouts were difficult against Edinburgh," he said.
"The conditions were wet, cold and a little windy.
"Credit to Edinburgh. Their lineout is good, as we also saw against the Stormers, but it’s not good enough from us.
“Some of it was timing, some of it was accuracy, and without lineout ball you’re going to struggle to get your attack going, build momentum and put pressure on them.
"So it’s clearly an area that didn’t work well for us.
“You can definitely see improvement in this Edinburgh side.
"They are good in the collision, and they generated momentum well.
"Once we stopped them from side to side they isolated us at the back and then kept going forward.
"So you can see they play with confidence and they’re a tough team to play at home."
Van Rooyen said a call not to take the points on offer when they were awarded a penalty in front of the Edinburgh poles just before the break had been made by the players.
“The call is usually to go for poles," he said.
"But if the players felt we had ascendancy, which the pictures were showing at that time, then they have the freedom to go for it.
"It was a big call made on the night and if we had scored it might have been a different result.
“I think going into the break ahead might have given us a good feeling, but the second half performance and our execution wasn’t good enough.
"So it wasn’t terrible that we didn’t score from that scrum, and we were just 30cm away from doing that.
“In the moment, maybe we should have taken the three and go 6-5 up at halftime.
"But the players felt they had an opportunity and momentum, and we will back that call.
"But I don’t think taking the points would have necessarily changed the second half. Our execution has to be better.”
Friday: 9.45pm: Glasgow vs Lions. Saturday: 2.45pm: Stormers vs Ulster, 5pm: Bulls vs Scarlets, 7.30pm: Munster vs Sharks.
