Johannesburg - In spite of their most recent defeats, the Lions as a whole will look at this weekend as an opportunity to re-establish a tentative foothold in the United Rugby Championship (URC) and the Currie Cup.
Fierce resistance was met on the previous weekend, with the Lions’ push from their exposed beachhead fiercely repelled 31-21 by the Glasgow Warriors in the quarter-final of the EPCR Challenge Cup, while they were mauled badly by the Free State Cheetahs 52-15 in the Currie Cup. This weekend then offers an opportunity to reset their lines and launch a new offensive on both competitions.
First up, is a massively important URC clash against the table-topping Leinster today at Emirates Airline Park (kick-off 4pm), and despite losing out on possible silverware in the Challenge Cup, skipper Marius Louw – who will lead a slightly tweaked outfit against the Irish giants – is confident the defeat will not dent their confidence.
That self-belief will be key as the Emirates Lions must beat the undefeated visitors soundly to keep their play-off ambitions in the tournament alive. The Joburgers are currently 11th in the URC standings on 38 points, three points behind the eighth-placed Sharks, who hosted the equally mercurial Benetton last night.
Said Louw earlier this week: “In the locker-room, everyone has been growing and it has gotten a lot better.
“I think you can see that in the way we have been performing and playing for each other. What happens in the camp, goes on the field and I think there have been a lot of positives.
“We are not out of it completely, so I wouldn’t necessarily throw us out of the bus just yet. We will just do what we can as best as we can as long as we can, and we will see how it goes.”
The other matches that the Lions will take a keen interest in this weekend are the Bulls v Zebre, which will also be played in Johannesburg as part of a double-header (kick-off 1pm), and perhaps more importantly Connacht v Cardiff Rugby tonight.
The Stormers and Munster could mathematically also impact their hope to qualify for the knock-out stages, but then the Irish franchise must lose heavily this evening and next week against the Sharks – while the Lions must pump their opposition this weekend and then repeat the feat against Zebre a week later, to nullify a 210-points difference swing – which simply put, won’t be happening.
Due to injury, coach Ivan van Rooyen will have to put his faith in a handful of “untested” players when they run out against a Leinster team, which will also rely more on its fringe players for the encounter.
Van Rooyen has made three changes to his starting XV for the clash. Rhynardt Rijnsburger will receive his first start in the URC at loosehead, while Ruan Delport will do the same at blindside flank.
Prop Rijinsburger comes in for JP Smith, who rotates onto the bench after weeks of workhorse performances, while 20-year-old Delport replaces the concussed Ruan Venter in the No 7 jumper. Meanwhile, in the backline, Stean Pienaar replaces Rabz Maxwane, who received a bad knock to the head against Glasgow and must complete those protocols.
The only other change sees the utility forward Darrien Landsberg selected in the matchday 23 on the bench to cover the second row and loose trio as required.
In the Currie Cup, the Fidelity ADT Lions host the Griquas tomorrow, also at Ellis Park.
The Lions are currently fifth in that competition after five games (two wins and three losses), but could catapult themselves back into the Top 4 with a good victory over the erratic Kimberley-based side.
EMIRATES LIONS STARTING XV:
15 Quan Horn, 14 Stean Pienaar, 13 Manuel Rass, 12 Marius Louw (capt), 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Gianni Lombard, 9 Sanele Nohamba, 8 Francke Horn, 7 Ruan Delport, 6 Jaco Kriel, 5 Ruben Schoeman, 4 Willem Alberts, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 PJ Botha; 1 Rhynardt Rijnsburger
Replacements: 16 Morne Brandon, 17 JP Smith, 18 Ruan Dreyer, 19 Darrien Landsberg, 20 Travis Gordon, 21 Morne van den Berg, 22 Rynhardt Jonker, 23 Andries Coetzee.
@FreemanZAR