Jaco Kriel can breathe a sigh of relief after the Lions’ win over Cardiff Rugby on Sunday, but the skipper knows far more “hard work” lies ahead for his side.
The Lions ended a five-game losing streak in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship with a well-earned 37-20 victory over Cardiff at Ellis Park.
The result eased some of the pressure on Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen and his men, who still find themselves in the bottom half of the URC in 14th.
“To be honest, I’d say I’m just relieved with the win,” said Kriel. “I don’t believe you can pin a specific moment [like Tshituka’s try] on suddenly transforming a whole season into something different because you work hard every day of the week, the thing you work towards all the time.
“The important thing is to be consistent in the hard work that you put in all the time.
“In my view, the priority for us should be to build on this victory, to not concentrate too much on this whole ‘bigger journey’ thing and rather just control the small things and processes.”
He added: “A few weeks back we stated that we’re not happy with our attitude and this is really the first time in a while that I can say we’ve brought a good attitude and effort. That’s encouraging because it suggests we’re building as a team and on our culture.
“The hard work seems to be paying off.”
