Lions Get Masterclass In 'squeeze' Rugby

Morgan Bolton

Pained by defeat, Ivan van Rooyen insisted that despite what the scoreboard might have read on the night, Munster werent better than the Lions smarter, for sure, but not better.

The Lions lost 33-13 to the defending champions in their United Rugby Championship clash at Ellis Park, and to a certain extent, the Lions coach is not wholly incorrect in his assessment. Munster approached the match with a Test-match intensity.

During the first 20 minutes, they barely threatened the hosts 22, but instead placed pressure on the Joburgers through the scoreboard. On Saturday night Munster did to the Lions what they had done against Leinster a week earlier.

You could feel them dictating the game, said Van Rooyen after the match, and once they got ahead, they just managed to squeeze us. Because you dont get tempo and you dont get into the game, you feel frustrated.

We probably created more than what they created, the 41-year-old continued. We created enough and once we could get going, we looked dangerous, we just didnt manage to finish off, or get the last pass or one or two more phases.

The Lions enjoyed the majority of possession and territory during the game, especially in the second half. They made almost 2.5 times more metres than the visitors (423m to 176m), beat more defenders (19-9), had more clean breaks (7-2), had more gain-line carries (81-38) and won almost 100 rucks to the 37 Munster contested.

And yet all that attacking play resulted in only one try. The Lions made numerous errors in handling and in general play which conspired against them every time they built a platform to threaten Munster. The Irish franchise, meanwhile, made no such mistakes.

That gulf in class was the noticeable difference. As much as Van Rooyen and Co can curse their luck, they were far too inaccurate against a championship-contending side.

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That was part of the squeeze, Van Rooyen agreed. They barely played in their half and they didnt allow us counter opportunities.

We knew that they were going to kick the ball up in the air. That is the way that they play. They do that well.

You have to generate quick ball from that in-play and initially that is where we made some errors. They disrupted the set pieces really well. At the line-outs, we couldnt get going.

We werent outplayed, but we were outsmarted.

The Lions have three matches to save their season, but already the odds are firmly stacked against them. Although they are not yet out of the top-eight picture, a massive effort is now required against Cardiff and Glasgow at home, and the Stormers at Cape Town Stadium.

We have got to win all three, Van Rooyen explained.

I dont think Munster did anything we didnt train for or didnt expect. It was just the execution.

We have to minimise errors We must keep creating the right pictures of what we can expect in defence and attack, and then just be more clinical from our side.