‘There’s work to be done,’ says Lions captain Horn ahead of Bulls showdown

The Lions have got their URC season off to a winning start but face a huge challenge against the Bulls at Loftus next up. Despite a pleasing start to the season for the Lions, captain Francke Horn is well aware that there is still plenty of work to do, and admitted that his charges would need to make a step up when they take on the Bulls in the cross-Jukskei derby at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday. The Lions have picked up nine points from a possible 10 in their opening two United Rugby Championship (URC) matches, after getting four from their 27-26 win over defending champions Leinster, before clinching a full house of points in their 35-19 win over Ospreys at Ellis Park over the weekend. It is a good start for the Lions, compared to their losing three games on the road to start their previous campaign, before recovering to reach the URC playoffs for the first time. “We wanted 10 points in the first two weeks and we got nine, so there’s still some work to be done,” said Horn after Saturday’s match. “It was a tough, grind win (against Ospreys). But we got our five points. It wasn’t perfect, but we got the points on the board.” The Lions now face their biggest challenge of the season so far as they head over to Pretoria to face the Bulls, who will be smarting after going down 26-22 to Munster in Limerick, to ruin their start to the season having comfortably thumped Zebre in Italy the week before. First half improvement Where the Lions will need an immediate improvement is their first half performance, after they trailed in both matches so far at the break, 19-17 against Leinster and 12-10 against Ospreys, before recovering with a powerful second half surge. “It was a very sloppy first half (against Ospreys). That is definitely something we will need to improve going forward, especially next weekend (against the Bulls at Loftus),” said Horn. “But then credit to the forwards in the second half. We had lots of good scrums and lots of good mauls with the backs joining. “It’s (our scrum) definitely a good weapon in our arsenal at this stage. We just need to be patient and pick our moments and not give soft penalties away there (at the set piece). But overall, the forwards put in a massive shift. “The guys coming off the bench (also) brought some energy and momentum. And the last few defensive sets also looked good. So there were a lot of positives in the second half. We just need to sharpen up in the first half.” Following the clash against the Bulls, the Lions will head to France where they will take on La Rochelle in their first even Champions Cup match, and they will be eager to do that on a three-match winning run.