Latest news with #IvanvanRooyen
The Citizen
27-05-2025
- Sport
- The Citizen
Is a coaching shake-up on the cards at the Lions?
The Lions are believed to be considering their options after a poor 2024/25 URC season ended with them well off the playoff places. Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen with his assistants Jaque Fourie and Barend Pieterse during a training session earlier in the season. Picture: Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images It seems that the winds of change are on the horizon for the Lions, but the question has to be asked if it will bring something different or more of the same going forward? Reports have indicated that the Lions' upper management held discussions over the past weekend, looking into their performance over the 2024/25 United Rugby Championship (URC) season, that saw the team finish 11th on the log, well off the playoff places. This was a far cry from head coach Ivan van Rooyen's bold claim before the season started that they were targeting a top four place in the competition. Instead, the Lions went on to miss out on the competition quarter-finals for the fourth straight campaign, while producing their worst points tally in the URC to date. In their debut season back in 2021/22, the Lions finished 12th on the log, but picked up 41 points over that campaign, while this season saw them finish 11th but with 40 points. Sandwiched between that are two ninth placed finishes, in 2022/23 with 45 points, and in 2023/24 with 50 points. Last season it seemed like the Lions had turned the corner, with them missing out on the knockouts by the smallest of margins, finishing level on points with Ospreys, but losing out on eighth spot to the Welsh side due to them having won a game more. Backwards step But they followed that up by taking a big backwards step over the current campaign, which has led to the speculation about the future of the current coaching group, led by Van Rooyen, which has been in charge over all four seasons of the URC. Sunday publication Rapport has speculated that Van Rooyen could shift into a Director of Rugby role, with junior coach Mzwakhe Nkosi making the step up into the head coaching role of the Lions. Nkosi has coached the Lions Currie Cup team over the past few years in tough conditions, and led them to the final last year, which they lost at the death to the Sharks. Scrum coach Julian Redelinghuys has also been mentioned as a possible head coach option, which would be a massive step up for him. Reports have stated that a decision on the coaching team and Van Rooyen's future could be imminent and announced as early as this week. Attempts to get clarity on the situation and a statement from the Lions' leadership were met with a 'no comment on the current speculation and reports in the media.' Besides Van Rooyen and Redelinghuys, the senior Lions coaching team consists of Jaque Fourie, Barend Pieterse and Ricardo Loubscher.
The Citizen
14-05-2025
- Sport
- The Citizen
'Huge disappointment': Van Rooyen says small margins cost Lions this season
The Lions have suffered a dismal run of form that has seen them win just three games while losing 10 of their last 13 in the URC. Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen claimed that small margins scuppered their goal of making the United Rugby Championship (URC) playoffs for a fourth consecutive season, as they prepare to close out their campaign against Ospreys at Ellis Park on Saturday. The Lions disappointingly bowed out of contention ahead of their poor 32-19 loss to Scarlets on Sunday, which may have played a part in the team delivering a poor performance to go down comfortably in that match. But it can't be blamed solely on a a few close games, but more on a dismal run since starting their season like a house on fire, winning their opening four games which had them sitting near the top of the log at that stage of the season. Since then the Lions have won just three matches, while losing 10, which has included their usual impenetrable home form being breached on a number of occasions, most recently against Benetton and Scarlets, in games they needed to win to have a chance of making the knockouts. Lofty goal Van Rooyen had set a lofty goal of a top four placing for the Lions at the start of the season, but they are now destined to finish well outside of the top 10 in possibly their worst campaign. 'It is a huge disappointment. We set our targets and we started well. It is always tough in January, February and March when you are bouncing back between Europe and here, but even then we felt we were there to put ourselves in a position to qualify,' explained Van Rooyen. 'If we scored the last try last week (in their win over Connacht two weekends ago), we would have been within a point of seventh or eighth, that's how close the margins were. We felt we were not consistent enough to be there (top eight) yet. 'It is a big learning for us, for a group and individuals. We are young, so it is a challenge and that speaks to consistency, but that is also the challenge.' Must win The 13th placed Lions now have to beat Ospreys to avoid their worst finish on the URC table, which was 12th in their debut season, but it will still be their worst points tally in the competition to date. They will need to pick themselves up from a dismal effort against Scarlets, in a game they really should have won to help at least finish their campaign on a high, despite not making the playoffs. 'We did speak about coming out and having a purpose in the game, even though the results didn't go our way. But I don't think that's the reason why we lost, to be honest. We still did enough out there to show (we wanted to win against Scarlets),' said Van Rooyen. 'I don't think they wanted it more, I just think they were more accurate than us. Too many errors, and an easy try from them. They probably won the breakdown battle, and because of our errors they dictated the tempo of the game.'
IOL News
12-05-2025
- Sport
- IOL News
Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen reflects on errors that allowed Scarlets to boss tempo
Lions skipper Jaco Visagie insisted that the team were fully committed during their loss to the Scarlets this past weekend. Photo: Backpagepix Image: Backpagepix Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen admitted that costly errors from them allowed Scarlets to dictate the tempo of the United Rugby Championship game that they lost 32-19 at home on Sunday afternoon. "I just think they were more accurate than us. When we started, we threw some nice punches early but we didn't get the reward early," coach "Cash" said in his post-match media briefing at Ellis Park. "We let them slip in an easy try. We fought back. Again, there were too many errors. Again, an easy try for them, so I don't think it's a matter of desperation or not caring. It's definitely not that. To me there were too many individual errors. "They probably won the breakdown battle, which allowed them to either get a penalty or a set piece, and then they can rest. Because of our errors, they dictated the tempo of the game." Skipper Jaco Visagie also felt that the Lions made too many individual errors against the Welsh visitors, who climbed to sixth in the table with the bonus-point win. "I didn't, for one second, feel the guys weren't invested, Just too many individual errors. It wasn't a lack of commitment," he insisted. The home side scored three tries to the four for the visitors. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Scarlets won the battle at the breakdown, turning over the ball or winning penalties. This was no surprise to Van Rooyen, who said managing the breakdown was one of the focal points for the Joburg side. "We know that they are good there. I think they showed tonight why they beat Leinster comprehensively. They are a good team. They've got a big forward pack. They've good really good skill and pace outside wide. They're a good, balanced team," he said. "I'm probably disappointed because once or twice it felt like we stopped playing after making an error and that allowed them to get big momentum and put us under pressure again." The coach admitted the error-strewn performance, as well as the lack of consistency in execution, was a tale of their season. 🔥 One round remaining. One simple goal. One last push. 🔥 The #RaceToTheEight is on a knife edge 🔪😬 Who's making it to the Play-Offs? 👀#BKTURC #URC — BKT United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial) May 11, 2025 "It feels like it. Showing on video exactly what picture is coming, then training on it and then still conceding the first try is an individual error. When we get that right, like last week against Connacht, it's a totally different picture. Or when we get it right for patches in the game, we're really effective and we look really good, then in the next set, not that effective. "It's obviously something that we have to get better at, because when we get it right and when when we get it right consistently, it's actually really exciting." The loss of two of their three homes games at the tail end of the regular season that held so much promise of a play-off berth was particular disappointing for the Lions mentor. "We felt that we had four home games and if we could capitalise on that, there's a real opportunity to end anything from sixth to eighth. To lose two out of the three currently, obviously that is frustrating." He said missing out on play-offs was "a huge disappointment". "We set our goals, we set our targets. I think we started off well enough. Yes, it's always tough in January, February, March when you're bouncing back and forth between Europe and here when it's cold and it's warm, but even then we felt we were there to put ourselves in a position to get there (the play-offs)," Van Rooyen said. "I told the referee, if we scored the fourth try last week we were in the hunt to come seventh or eighth, that's how small the margins are. That's why it's such a great competition. "We felt we weren't consistently good enough to be there yet. There were big learnings for us as a group, as individuals. "I don't like to say it but we are young currently, because of a couple of the senior guys that are injured. So it is a challenge which speaks to consistency, but it is important for us to be much better." The 13th-placed Lions will round off their season with Saturday's home clash against the Ospreys.
The Citizen
28-04-2025
- Sport
- The Citizen
State of the URC: SA teams break on a high
The Lions and Stormers are on course to join the Vodacom Bulls and Sharks in the URC playoffs as the competition pauses for a week. All four South African teams were victorious in round 16. The Bulls and Sharks each completed an unbeaten two-match URC trip to Ireland and Scotland to cement their top-four spots. The Stormers made home comforts count in backing up last week's win against visiting Connacht by beating Benetton at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday, and the Lions delivered on their promise to fight back strongly after five successive defeats, hammering Connacht at Ellis Park on Saturday. The 26-7 result keeps the Lions in the race to the final eight, although Ivan van Rooyen's men trail eighth-placed Benetton by six points with two rounds to go. The Stormers thrashed Benetton 56-5 in Cape Town before John Plumtree's Sharks rallied from a 19-0 deficit to overhaul Ulster 22-19 in Belfast. The Bulls were in action on Friday night and, despite being outscored three tries to two, secured a 26-19 victory against defending champions, Glasgow Warriors in Scotland. These results leave the Bulls in third place on the log (58 points), followed by the Sharks in fourth (53 pts) and sixth-placed Stormers (45 pts). The Lions are in 13th position (35 pts). Victory in Belfast sees the Sharks join the Bulls, Glasgow (59 points) and log-leaders Leinster (who lost only their second match of the campaign at Scarlets on Saturday) in the playoffs. The Stormers and Lions are among 10 teams in with a chance of claiming one of the remaining four slots. Those sides, from fifth-placed Cardiff to Connacht in 14th, are separated by 11 points. PLUS: New 'Os' epitomises Bulls' efforts – Jake The URC takes a break for the semi-finals of the Investec Champions Cup and Challenge Cup, with Leinster and Edinburgh representing the league in those EPCR competitions. Then it's back for round 17 on the weekend of May 9-11, and the action resumes with the Sharks against Ospreys at Kings Park. The Durbanites won 25-10 the last time the teams met in KZN, but have lost twice to the Welsh outfit since 2021-22, including a 19-5 defeat in London last season. PLUS: URC coaches slam Beaver's 'low-level' claims The Bulls will be confident against Cardiff at Loftus Versfeld, having beaten the Welshmen 45–9 in Pretoria in 2023, and edged them 18–12 at Arms Park last term. The Stormers welcome Dragons to Cape Town Stadium for the first time, eager to build on previous wins over the visitors in Gqeberha and Newport after an early stumble in Wales three seasons ago. And finally, the Lions host Scarlets at Ellis Park, chasing a third straight victory against the men from Llanelli. Round 16 results: Zebre 25-25 Edinburgh Cardiff 26-21 Munster Glasgow 19-26 Bulls Lions 26-7 Connacht Ospreys 57-24 Dragons Stormers 56-5 Benetton Scarlets 35-22 Leinster Ulster 19-22 Sharks Round 17 fixtures: Friday, May 9 Sharks vs Ospreys (19:00) Munster vs Ulster (20:35) Saturday, May 10 Bulls vs Cardiff (16:00) Benetton vs Glasgow (18:15) Stormers vs Dragons (18:15) Leinster vs Zebre (18:15) Connacht vs Edinburgh (20:35) Sunday, May 11 Lions vs Scarlets (15:00) This article first appeared on SA Rugby magazine. Breaking news at your fingertips… Follow Caxton Network News on Facebook and join our WhatsApp channel. Nuus wat saakmaak. Volg Caxton Netwerk-nuus op Facebook en sluit aan by ons WhatsApp-kanaal.
IOL News
25-04-2025
- Sport
- IOL News
Henco van Wyk back as Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen picks new midfield for URC clash with Connacht
Henco van Wyk Ace outside centre Henco van Wyk has recovered from an injury and was included in the Lions team to face Connacht. Photo: BackpagePix Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen has taken a different approach to this weekend's crucial United Rugby Championship fixture against Connacht at Ellis Park (4pm kick-off) by including King Edward VII School (KES) old boy Bronson Mills at inside centre. Mills, who makes his Lions debut, partners the returning Henco van Wyk in the midfield in a new-look centre combination. Back on the right wing is Richard Kriel, who missed out on last week's defeat to Benetton due to a niggle picked at training. The loose trio sees Jarod Cairns come in for the injured Francke Horn, who sustained a knee injury in Round 15, forcing him off the field during the first half.
