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 weren’t 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 don’t get tempo and you don’t 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 didn’t 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.
And 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 is how we stand after 1️⃣5️⃣ rounds...
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“That was part of the squeeze,” Van Rooyen agreed. “They barely played in their half and they didn’t 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 couldn’t get going.
“We weren’t 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 didn’t train for or didn’t 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.
“(Munster) won the small and the big moments. We just have to be better.”