Lions boss Ivan van Rooyen picking up the pieces after difficult tour north

In early October, the Johannesburg franchise departed for what was a daunting tour up North: facing French giants La Rochelle in their maiden Champions Cup clash, the then-undefeated Edinburgh in the United Rugby Championship and former URC champions Glasgow.

On the eve of the La Rochelle match, the sudden passing of lock Hyron Andrews was a hurdle no one saw coming. While the emotional Lions fronted-up, they would go down 31-14, 31-10 and 29-10 respectively and return to South Africa with little reward.

A glimmer of hope was their late comeback against a brilliant Glasgow, where they rallied from 19-3 down to lead 19-20 with five minutes to play, only to concede a converted try and a penalty at the death.Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen reflected on what has been an exceptionally challenging three weeks on tour for the squad and management.

"It was an incredibly difficult tour in the bigger scheme of things," van Rooyen told the press after Friday night's loss.

"The character we showed during the La Rochelle and Glasgow games is something we are proud of.

"The Edinburgh game week was exceptionally tough mentally and unfortunately it showed a bit in the game. Throughout the three weeks, I honestly believe the management was truly unbelievable. We are truly blessed to have incredible people in our team.

"The heart and the character to stand up and fight for each other was incredible."

Van Rooyen is hoping to build on the fight they showed against Glasgow, where tries from Springbok livewire Morne van den Berg, Siba Mahashe and Morne Brandon nearly snatched them a famous win.

"The character we showed to fight back in the second half was great to see," he reflected.

"We found a way to start playing against a very organised defence by generating quick ball. We struggled to get that in the first half. We identified that we had to fix a few aspects in order for us to start getting quick ball. There was space out there, we just couldn't capitalise and get there in the first half.

"It was important for us to try and stamp our game on them. We also needed to fix one or two things in defence that we had to be better at."

The Lions will now take a well-deserved lengthy break before beginning preparations for the Jukskei Derby against the Bulls at Ellis Park on 5 December.

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