Van Rooyen praises Lions’ composure after seeing red in dramatic win

LIONS coach Ivan van Rooyen commended his team for the way they dealt with the adversity of losing forward Ruan Venter to a yellow card that was later upgraded to red in the gripping one-point victory against the Sharks at Kings Park on Saturday afternoon.

- ROWAN CALLAGHAN

Venter was sin-binned for head contact in a tackle on Sharks fullback Aphelele Fassi late in the first half of their United Rugby Championship clash, and the yellow was later upgraded to red. While similar setbacks may have seen the Lions buckle under the pressure previously, they held their nerve at the Shark Tank this time to snatch the 23-22 win after the hooter.

"I don’t think it (the head contact) was intentional, I think it was a little bit of timing out. But I also really felt in the 20 minutes we showed a bit of composure, we showed a bit of growth there,” Van Rooyen said at the post-match media briefing.