Marius Louw is confident the Lions can keep up their good recent record against South African rivals when they tackle the Vodacom Bulls in the Jukskei Derby on Saturday.
In the Challenge Cup match at Ellis Park last week, the men from Johannesburg conceded three tries in the final 10 minutes to lose 38-28 against the Ospreys.
The Lions, currently three points and five places behind the Bulls (6th) on the Vodacom URC log, have an opportunity to bounce back when they take to Loftus Versfeld,
In the previous meeting between the northern rivals, at Loftus in March of 2023, the Lions put an end to a run of successive losses in local derbies stretching back to 2021. They have enjoyed a solid run since, losing by just three points against the DHL Stormers in the season opener and beating the Sharks at Kings Park in January.
The Lions also hold the record of being the only South African team to beat the Stormers at Cape Town Stadium in the Vodacom URC.
“Over the past few years, the Lions have struggled to win against South African teams, but I think we got that monkey off our back last year,” Louw said. “So now it’s just about sticking to our process and getting a good performance in before going on a little break.
“They’ve played a lot of good rugby over the last few weeks, especially at home.” Louw added about the Bulls. “We know how dangerous they are—very physical, and they spread the ball wide with their backs—so it’s definitely going to be a tough one.
Speaking about the disappointing end to last week’s game, Louw acknowledged that fatigue may have played a part, but said the performance as a whole was not up to the standard expected.
“I think we were a little bit disappointed with our performance over the weekend. We had some good entries that we didn’t execute in scoring tries, with some disallowed. Our discipline also wasn’t up to scratch, so that’s definitely something we’ll look into.
“It’s very uncharacteristic of us, especially in the last 10 minutes, to let go like that. So yes, it was definitely a discussion point going into this weekend.
“We mentioned earlier about our performance. It just comes down to working a little bit harder because we do identify the space and where we need to go. But I think we were also a little bit flat-footed. It’s something we’re going to look into this weekend and make sure our intent is where it needs to be.”