Ivan van Rooyen says the Lions have put their playoff fate in their own hands, in stark contrast to previous seasons.
The Lions extended their winning streak in the competition to six with a 33-21 victory against in-form Connacht at Ellis Park on Saturday. It moved them up to third on the log, with fourth-placed Leinster still to play.
“We’re keeping ourselves alive, which is the nice part,” Van Rooyen said. “Connacht are such a tough team to play against. They don’t go away. They’re physical. They’re fit.
“Now we’re touring. It’s a tough tour – Leinster, then Munster – but as we’ve been saying, at least it’s still up to us.”
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That control marks a shift from previous campaigns where the Pride were unable to consistently close out the league phase of the competition.
“In the last three seasons, we hoped for one or two results from other teams. Currently, it’s up to us to decide where we are,” Van Rooyen said. “The feeling is different than the last two or three years.
“I think we’ve grown a lot. The last two or three years it was just not good enough and hopefully this year it will be different.”
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Captain Francke Horn pointed to the defensive effort as the foundation of Saturday’s win.
“Connacht are a good team, especially on attack. We knew we were going to have to defend multi-phase,” he said. “There was a stage on our tryline where we defended for three to four minutes and we managed.
“It was a massive defensive performance for 70 minutes. Two tries at the end left a sour taste, but it’s good to win and get five points to stay alive.”
Horn also highlighted the composure shown under pressure.
“With a yellow card, they scored just seven points and we scored points ourselves,” he said. “The maturity of the win, I think we’ve grown a lot.”
Photo: Gallo Images
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