Van Rooyen hopes derby wins will make the difference for Lions in play-off hunt

Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen is hopeful their impressive South African Shield win will give the team the boost they need to kick on and qualify for the United Rugby Championship (URC) play-offs for the first time come the end of the season.

The Lions have already made history this season by winning the SA Shield for the first time, and they have picked up the most wins over fellow SA teams in a single URC campaign as well.

They earned an impressive four wins from six local derbies, including doing the double over the Sharks, while they also beat the Bulls at Loftus and the Stormers at home.

Their defeat against the Stormers in Cape Town was a close game, and they only really suffered one blowout in their heavy loss to the Bulls at Ellis Park.

Van Rooyen believed the extra points gained this season from getting more wins over the SA franchises would stand them in good stead come the end of the campaign.

“Over the last few seasons, we have been just a few points shy of the top eight. In our (past season) reviews we have felt that we missed out on about five to 10 points from South African derbies,” Van Rooyen explained.

“So we felt we didn’t win enough of them (SA derbies), and we talked a lot about it in preseason, that we need to be more consistent against South African teams.

“Hopefully if you ask me in July, that additional nine or 10 points was the difference (in making the URC top eight).

Praise from Rassie

The Lions’ impressive form saw a number of players picked to attend the first Springbok alignment camp in Cape Town last week, and Bok coach Rassie Erasmus praised them, saying that even more could make the second camp if they kept doing well.

“When Lions players come into the camps, you don’t have to worry about their attitudes. All of the coaches here who have worked with them will tell you they have great attitudes,” said Erasmus.

“They just want to help the team. Not that I’m speaking ill of the other franchises, but I think it comes from their grind.

“Over the years they lost (finals) in Super Rugby, lost coaches. It’s not always easy to attract crowds to their stadium, and when you’re not winning, when your stadium isn’t centrally located, and players are leaving, you have to be a really gutsy player to stay.

“I think something similar is happening at the Sharks as well, although it’s not quite as difficult to stay in Durban as it might be in Joburg.”