VIDEO: Francke Horn: 'Today we stood up against Springboks'

02/17/2025 03:56 AM

VIDEO: Lions captain Francke Horn is one of eight Lions players invited to the three-day Springbok alignment camp in Cape Town next month.

The No. 8 was one of the stand-out players in the Lions' victory over the Stormers over the weekend.

Together with Horn teammates Renzo du Plessis, Asenathi Ntlabakanye, Ruan Venter, Quan Horn, Morne van den Berg, Edwill van der Merwe, and Henco van Wyk will all attend the camp.

Ntlabakanye, Venter, Horn, and Van Wyk were immense against the Stormers and managed to overshadow Springboks like Evan Roos, Deon Fourie, and Ben-Jason Dixon.

Ivan van Rooyen's side produced an attacking masterclass in the first half, which was spearheaded by the fleetfooted Horn.

The fullback had a hand in two of his team's three tries in the first half as the Lions secured an 18-point lead at the break.

Bok Roos was a marked man and only managed to evade the opposition and cross the whitewash in the 69th minute. Venter made life difficult for the Stormers' No. 8 and kept him intact for most of the game.

On Saturday during the post-match press conference, Horn commented on higher honours for Lions players, saying it will come if the team continuously performs well.

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"If we as a team play well, then the guys will get the higher honours.

"There is a big positivity because obviously you get noticed," Horn stated.

"It is still not an individual sport, so if the team plays well, players - like today - will stand out against other Springboks.

"And that is how we are going to go forward.

"It's a team sport, so be the best you can be for the team and the rest will come for itself."

On Saturday the Lions managed to bounce back from four successive defeats in the United Rugby Championship.

[rp-mc-teams-match-summary id="204|942308|2025"][/rp-mc-teams-match-summary]

They had a strong start in the competition, winning four games in a row.

However since then, they have been struggling and the win puts their campaign back on track, especially with two games in hand.

Horn was clearly a relieved man after the win but rued the fact that they couldn't get a fourth bonus point try.

"That's a big monkey off our back.

"It's a big step in the right direction for us. It's still not perfect. We would've loved the bonus point, but we got the win.

"It was quite scrappy in the end, but that is the character of the team is that we can fight till the end and make sure we win it.

"With the previous four games, we felt we were in it until the last minute in all of them. So, I am really proud of the guys for continuing to fight.

"We were trying to keep the Stormers out and eventually they went for the three points."

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