Lions have belief in the mission ahead of crunch Leinster clash

The Lions fully believe they have what it takes to qualify for the United Rugby Championship (URC) playoffs as they prepare to take on Irish giants Leinster in a crunch encounter at Ellis Park on Saturday afternoon (kick-off 3pm).

It is a stacked log, with the 11^th placed Lions level on points with the two teams above them and just five points off the Stormers in fifth, but they know that a loss would see them slip further away from their top eight target.

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Lions eighthman Francke Horn says that a tough end-of-season run-in, that sees them take on four teams that are currently ranked in the URC top five, is the perfect opportunity for them to prove that they have what it takes to compete with the best in the competition.

Complete belief

“Everybody believes that we can do it (make playoffs). That’s something we have spoken about. There are five games left (in the competition’s pool stage), but we can make it eight games (if they reach the final),” explained Horn.

“We are really looking forward to the challenge. It’s not pressure, we see it more as an opportunity to showcase what we can do against top teams, while it is also a chance to measure ourselves.

“It’s great to be back at home. It’s been six weeks since we last played here, so we are really looking forward to getting out on the field at Ellis Park and playing in front of the fans.”

It will be a special occasion for Horn, who will make his 50^th appearance for the Lions when he runs on the park on Saturday and it is something that he is happy to do in front of his home fans.

“It has come a lot quicker than I thought it would. But that’s the nice thing about playing in two competitions (URC and Challenge Cup),” said Horn.

50th appearance

“Making my 50th appearance is going to be special, as is every game, but leading the team out, especially being back at home I wouldn’t want to do it anywhere else. So I am really looking forward to that and the responsibility and opportunity that comes with it.”

The Lions have returned from a mixed overseas tour, where they produced an epic performance to stun Connacht in Galway, but disappointingly lost to Ospreys in Swansea and Benetton in Treviso and Horn says they learnt some good lessons from it.

“Every game is a big game. Every team gives you different challenges and I think that’s something that we lacked a bit on tour. I don’t want to say we didn’t pitch up, but we probably didn’t play the correct game plan and made too many errors,” said Horn.

“So for us we need to go back to the basics, get our launches right and play with and support each other. Because when we play as a team we are much better than as an individual.”