Lions brace for Ospreys scrum battle
12/03/2024 10:54 AM
Scrum coach Julian Redelinghuys says the Lions anticipate a massive onslaught at the set-piece in their opening match of the Challenge Cup against the Ospreys in Swansea on Sunday.
Redelinghuys is targeting an improvement against Ospreys at scrum-time after an inconsistent performance by the Lions starting pack in a 17-10 URC loss at Munster last week.
“I felt we could’ve gotten rewarded more at scrum time against Munster.” Redelinghuys said when asked about the Lions set-piece performance.
“The scrum is an area that we want to have dominance in and use it as a platform to exit our half easily, create goal zone entries on our ball and take away their attacking platform and opportunities with the ball.
“The fields in Europe have been difficult, and it does change the way you play, with the 3G and 4G pitches. At set pieces it also changes and players need to use different studs, so there is adapting needed. After three years (in European competitions) the players should be ready to create good solutions.”
This is the Lions’ third Challenge Cup campaign and, having failed to progress further than the last eight, Redelinghuys believes there is potential to go further this year.
The Ospreys have form on their side with a 36-21 victory the last time the teams met in Swansea.
“It’s unfortunate that we don’t have favourable experiences with the Ospreys, more often than not they are unfavourable experiences. We are expecting it to be a physical game, with difficult conditions in Swansea and Europe and something for us to work on is making sure our handling in the conditions is better.
“They are a physical and tough team and we expect a difficult kicking game.”
The Lions are missing a few key players ahead of the match, with flyhalf Kade Wolhuter, who has scored more than 25% of the pride’s points in the Vodacom URC this season, amongst those returning to the Republic.
“Kade took a head knock from a collision in the air. He has a concussion, so he is back home and unavailable for this weekend. Around 12 guys have been sent home, we are also missing players like hooker Morne Brandon and flankers Ruan Venter and Siba Qoba.
“We are playing on Sunday so the turnaround time is quick in this competition, it’s a good idea for us to get some guys back home and prepare for (next week’s) home game against Pau. We are really excited to see the other players in the squad getting an opportunity to play this weekend and show us their quality.”
Photo: Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images
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