Ivan van Rooyen hails Lions’ maturity in dominant revenge win over Glasgow Warriors

Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen allowed himself a touch of self-congratulation after his team on Saturday demolished the Warriors side that a year ago did the same to the Lions in Glasgow.

The Lions overwhelmed the current United Rugby Championship (URC) log leaders 54-12 in a memorable performance at Ellis Park to entrench themselves in the URC Top 8 and push themselves into a first-ever place in the quarter-finals.

“I do remember being 42-0 down last year at half-time in Glasgow; they were just waiting for us and they taught us a tempo lesson,” Van Rooyen said.

“It helped us that we had an extra week of preparation (while the other teams were involved in the Champions and Challenge Cups). We got our pictures right. And I’m very proud of the overall performance after all the hard work that went in.”

Part of Van Rooyen’s famous “pictures” was not allowing the Glaswegians the quick ball that allows them the momentum to attack out wide.

“We did not want to give them penalties, and we were determined not to give them attacking lineouts, because from that platform, they are deadly. They are almost impossible to stop when they attack you in your 22,” Van Rooyen said.

“The moment you switch off, they will exploit you because they are so good at attacking space. My main takeaway is that I am really proud that we executed our game plan and stopped them from playing their natural game.

“Glasgow are the quickest team in the tournament in scoring points in the opening 10 minutes. We stopped them from doing that. In fact, we turned it around.”

The Lions scored two tries in the opening minutes to set the tone for the afternoon. Now fifth in the URC standings in on 47 points, the Joburgers next face Connacht on Saturday.