'Chasing our tail': Fourie's take on Lions' defeat to Connacht

REACTION: Lions assistant coach Jaque Fourie admitted his team is in dire need of regrouping and reset sessions following their challenging tour.

The Lions concluded their four-week tour with a demoralizing 24-43 loss to Connacht in a United Rugby Championship (URC) Round 13 clash.

Since the United Rugby Championship started, South African teams have failed to get a victory at The Sportsground and the Lions never looked like they were going to break that record during the 80 minutes.

Speaking to reporters after the match, Fourie believes his team gave Connacht too much space and appeared out of their depth.

Fourie also added the set pieces were a major struggle for the South Africans.

"Connacht played very well, kept the ball very nicely and their skill level is pretty high," Fourie said.

"I think if you give them time and space to run at you, you are going to chase your tail the whole game and that is basically what we did.

"It was really tough, we didn’t play in the right areas of the field, whereas Connacht played in the right areas, kept the ball for a few phases and didn’t get anywhere and kicked into space."

He added: "Connacht has a few tall timbers which are good for them.

“In the URC competition, they are second with line-out steals and made it tough for us. If you can't win your set-piece you can't play off that, so we have to press the reset button and work on all aspects of the game."

The reset button

The former Springbok centre revealed it is a big relief to return to Johannesburg after the four-week tour in Europe.

The Lions had a challenging schedule, recording three defeats (Munster, Stade Francais and Connacht) and one victory over Dragons in their four games in the Challenge Cup and URC.

Ahead of the trip to Europe, the side suffered defeats to the Sharks and Stormers and will now have a brief break to reassess before their host the Sharks on February 18 at Ellis Park.

They are currently 13th on the log, nine points adrift of the eighth-placed Sharks.

"Being on the road has been really tough, however, it was the cards that we were dealt," Fourie said.

"I don't think [this type of schedule] will happen again, it was just due to Worcester Warriors that fell out of the Challenge Cup because of financial implications.

"But that is the nature of the competitions.

"The guys are happy to go back home now. We have to press the reset button and we have four/five games at Ellis Park that we need to win if we want to be contenders in the top eight of the URC."