Lions need to get ‘balance right’ for biggest game of URC season

The Lions are gearing up for their biggest match of the season against Irish powerhouse Leinster in their United Rugby Championship (URC) clash at Ellis Park on Saturday afternoon.

It is a season-defining match for the hosts who have to somehow come up with a way to upset the runaway URC log leaders to stay in the hunt for a top eight finish and place in the competition quarterfinals.

The Lions are currently 11th on the log, three points behind the eighth placed Sharks and a loss against Leinster will end any chance of reaching the knockouts, which would see their season come to an end with their final pool match against Zebre next weekend.

Balance

Coming back from their Challenge Cup quarterfinal defeat against Glasgow Warriors, Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen admitted that they had to get the balance between rest and training right this week.

“The guys are heartbroken about not being able to get into the semifinal of a competition like this. But this is an important two weeks now for us to keep on moving forward,” said Van Rooyen.

“We have been travelling quite a bit over the last three to four weeks to and from Europe so it’s really important for us to rest and recover well to get the balance right between preparation and readiness to play.”

Weakened Leinster

With Leinster having already sealed top spot on the URC log with two games to play, and with them battling it out on the Champions Cup and URC fronts, they are expected to once again send a weakened team for their tour of South Africa, as they did last year.

However, their B team is almost as good as their A team, as has been shown by them being unbeaten this season, despite using both sides regularly, with 15 wins and one draw from their 16 games so far.

“We have been growing and developing so nicely (over the past few weeks) that I have no doubt that we will be able to take another step forward this (coming) weekend,” said Van Rooyen.

“We are up against probably the best team in Europe. It doesn’t matter if they send their A or their B team, I think the difference there is so marginally small that you know you’re going to play against a quality team, no matter who they send out.”