While the Lions could easily be excused for basking in the glory of their historic victory over Connacht in the United Rugby Championship over the weekend, assistant coach for the Johannesburg-outfit Ricardo Loubscher has insisted the team will need to be at their best again in their upcoming fixture against Ospreys.
Not only did the Lions become the first South African team to beat Connacht on their home turf, but they did it with just 14 men on the park for the majority of the clash.
The Lions were dealt a heavy blow as prop Ntlabakanye Asenathi was red carded for a high tackle in the lead-up to a Connacht try just after the quarter hour mark with the scores locked at 7-7.
That moment seemed to only fire up a doggedly determined Lions outfit as they continued to keep the scoreboard ticking, ultimately running out 38-14 victors.
‘There’s a nice gees’
Assistant coach Ricardo Loubscher was speaking ahead of the Lions’ trip to Swansea to take on the Welsh team on Saturday.
“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,” said Loubscher on Monday.
The Lions lost to Ospreys at Ellis Park in the Challenge Cup in January after they threw away a 28-17 lead in the final 10 minutes of the clash.
Loubscher hoped his team had learnt from that defeat.
“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 on Monday.
“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.”