Why the Lions' whole was greater than the sum of the Sharks' parts

REACTION: With licence to an often misquoted Aristotle phrase, first recorded some 2370-odd years ago: "The Lions' whole was greater than the sum of the Sharks' parts."

The Lions are now on a five-match winning streak, after coming from 15 points down at half-time and keeping the Springbok-laden Sharks scoreless in the second half - recording a 20-18 United Rugby Championship Round Eight catch-up win.

Boeta Chamberlain missed a last-gasp penalty, leaving the Sharks rooted to the foot of the URC table with just one win from nine starts.

Captain Marius Louw, despite not having the greatest day at the office, scored a 78th-minute try - converted by Sanele Nohamba - as the Lions edged the Sharks in a thriller in Kings Park.

The win saw the Lions move to 11th place on the standings, with 23 points – within touching distance of the eight-placed Ospreys (25 points).

Their last loss was a 17-24 reverse to Irish province Ulster at Ravenhill Stadium in Belfast, back on November 17.

They have subsequently beaten Zebre (61-19 in the URC), the Dragons (49-24, URC), Perpignan (28-12, Challenge Cup), Newcastle Falcons (35-13, Challenge Cup) and the Sharks (20-18, URC).

The win over the Sharks, who had 11 Springboks in their matchday squad - eight starting and three among the replacements - was the Lion' most impressiveof the season.

Despite the number of internationals, the Sharks could not maintain their first-half dominance - when 70 percent territorial advantage was turned into an 18-3 half-time lead.

After the break the Lions managed to turn the game into a set-piece arm-wrestle, keeping the Sharks scoreless.

Their scrum dominance won them several penalties, while both the visitors' second-half tries came as a result of their powerful maul - a penalty try in the 52nd minute that also saw lock Gerbrandt Grobler yellow-carded, and captain Marius Louw scoring off the back of a maul in the 78th minute.

* (Continue below ...)

Coach Ivan Van Rooyen admitted the Lions won because of their greater cohesion.

"They are world-class players," Van Rooyen said of players like captain Lukhanyo Am, Makazole Mapimpi, Grant Williams, Eben Etzebeth, Ox Nche and Jaden Hendrikse.

"Ox is probably the nest loosehead in the world currently, the same for Eben [at lock], while Lukhanyo in recent years has been the best No.13.

"To give ourselves a chance, we had to be really good as a collective in the way we execute the plan."

It allowed the men from Johannesburg to record their first win in Durban since 2017 - in Super Rugby or the URC.

"We felt, in the build-up, that this was an opportunity to get a result [win]," Van Rooyen said.

"We recently [July 2022] won here in a Currie Cup match.

"It got a small monkey off the back, but not the big one.

"It speaks to the group's belief, it speaks to the character and fight of the team," the coach said, adding: "Something we can be proud of."

The coach and captain admitted they made some 'adjustments' to their gameplan at the break - turning it into a game of two halves.

"They managed to keep us pinned in our half for the first 40 minutes," Van Rooyen said of the Sharks' territorial advantage.

"I think with the second half we managed to get a lot more territory, and we adapted really well to how we wanted to play."

The captain, Louw, admitted the Lions allowed the Sharks too much time and space in the first half.

"The biggest thing [in the first half] was we allowed them to run at us, and we didn't get off the defensive line," Louw said.

"They got a lot of momentum off nine and just got numbers on us and played out the back and got on the outside of us.

"That happened about two, three times like that in a row and if you're scrambling back like that, they're a good attacking side and you will suffer.

"In the second half, territory played a big role and then our defence was a lot better.

"We got off the line, we tackled them back, and we knew that when we started tackling them back they'd start kicking the ball back at us.

"That's exactly what happened or we got a penalty, and that's how we got back into the game."

@king365ed

@rugby365com

* Picture credit: @LionsRugbyCo