Lions leaders reflect on difficult Challenge Cup win over Pau

Intense thunderstorms on the highveld resulted in kickoff being delayed more than an hour. Even once the action got underway, play was halted for 20 minutes due to lightning. The fixture eventually got through the 80 minutes, with the Lions winning 43-35.

"It was important for us to get the first win, the last game [against Ospreys] we spoke quite a bit about it from our side," van Rooyen told Rugby 365.

"I see that Montpellier had a really good result against Ospreys, that's our next game in the EPCR so another good challenge for us away and then we got the Dragons back home.

"A little bit of travel for us but it's important for us to get off to a good start and getting five points [against Pau] was vital."

Speaking about the match itself, Louw revealed that the delays and uncertainty took a toll on the teams' emotions.

"It was a little bit of an emotional ride, some of the guys took their pre-workout at the right time for kick-off and then as the warm-up got postponed some of the guys got a bit agitated," said the centre.

"I think the guys responded well, we knew it's going to be a challenge to keep yourself calm a bit and then make that switch to go up again."

The Lions now shift their focus to the United Rugby Championship, where they travel to Cape Town to face the Stormers on 21 December.

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