The Emirates Lions have reflected on their “horrific” loss to defending Vodacom United Rugby Championship champions Glasgow Warriors, and believe they will be a much more focused side this weekend as they head across to Edinburgh for Friday night’s EPCR Challenge Cup Round of 16 game.
The only addition to the squad, and a welcome one at that, was Springbok halfback Morne van den Berg, who joined up with his teammates after missing the Glasgow massacre.
And it is clear that loss has troubled the Lions - assistant coach Jaque Fourie called it horrific - and Van den Berg, aka Krappies, spoke about a sense of reflection in the camp - that the loss was taken personally by so many of the players.
That isn’t just on the match day 23, he added, but for everybody in the Lions’ camp.
The sense of shock at their own whitewash in Glasgow was palpable.
“Each and every one of the boys, if you played or didn’t play, you took that loss personally. You really had a good look at yourself, a reflection of where you are, what does this mean to you and what does playing the game mean to you?” Van den Berg said.
“I don’t think anybody would say that that was acceptable. It’s a mindshift, we can’t go from being a good team three weeks ago, beating the Sharks, to being a very bad team last weekend.
“It is a total mindshift, we know we are a good team, we know we are better than that. The boys really took it on well, there was a lot of reflection and we are ready to tackle this week.”
Morne van Den Berg ahead of the Round of 16 EPCR Challenge Cup against Edinburgh.#ForOurCity #LionsPride 🦁 pic.twitter.com/R3wPnKpx3u
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The Lions have suffered from a lot of inconsistency this season, but they head to Edinburgh knowing the last time they faced Sean Everitt’s side they blew them away on the Highveld.
But things are a lot different now. The Lions have been their own worst enemies while Edinburgh are coming off a good win over Benetton and will be full of confidence.
FOCUS THE BUZZWORD
Van den Berg knows the team have a mountain to climb - not just on the field, but in their own mindsets going into this game. That’s why he talks about the reflection - he believes the inward focus may be what the team needs this week.
At some point there needs to be responsibility for the inconsistency, and some sort of change if the team are to turn their season around.
So focus has been the buzzword in the Lions’ camp this week and Van den Berg believes they are on the right track.
“It is your personal responsibility. Our captain Francke spoke well this week about just being focused. If you look at the best players in the world, they just stay focused in every single second, every single situation and you don’t lose that focus,” he explained.
“At stages in this season we have lost focus at the wrong times and leaked tries. We have given away momentum just when we have worked hard to get momentum. It is taking those learnings, and looking at yourself and really taking the responsibility to stay in the moment, be focused and do what the moment asks of you.”
The Lions will have the opportunity to get out on the park first in the knockout games this weekend and are likely to name their side on Thursday.
And for them the quicker they can erase the memories of Glasgow the better.