Flank Jarod Cairns says the Lions head to England “with a bit of fire in us” having confronted their Benetton defeat head-on.
The Lions relinquished an 18-11 lead on Saturday to suffer a 26-18 defeat, and next face a Newcastle Red Bulls side coming off a 23-14 win at Lyon.
Cairns on Monday said the group returned to training determined to fix the issues exposed at Ellis Park, with players openly holding one another accountable.
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“It was a tough result for us against Benetton,” he said. “We came back, went to the drawing board and we identified what we need to fix. We’re going to come out this weekend with a bit of a punch and we know what we need to do up there.”
He added that the reaction within the squad was immediate and honest.
“We looked at each other in the change room, in the eyes, and we said that we’d never want to feel like that again. So we’re going over there with a bit of fire in us.”
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Assistant coach Barend Pieterse echoed that urgency, while confirming that captain Francke Horn and hooker Franco Marais did not travel due to minor injuries.
“Francke has got a little bit of a shoulder niggle, nothing serious,” Pieterse said. “Because we’re a little bit short at hooker, there was a possibility for Franco to go. He just rolled his ankle a little bit. It’s nothing serious, but it is serious enough for some of the guys not to tour because it’s such a long period of travel for such a short week of preparation.”
Pieterse emphasised that rotation was part of the pre-season plan, but the conditions in Newcastle, and the need to reset quickly, made this week critical.
“There is a risk in losing momentum after you lose,” he said. “Some of the stuff that worked for us last year isn’t working now. Maybe just changing it up a bit is going to work for us.
“We really have confidence going into this match. You can see by how the guys have trained that there is a little bit of fresh energy. We have hope and we are positive that it’s going to go the other way this weekend.”
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Cairns expects a physical, conditions-driven contest at Kingston Park.
“It’s the UK weather, it’s winter that side,” he said. “It’s going to be wet. It’s going to be a tough situation, but we’re going as a collective. We just want to get a good result there.”
Photo: Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images
