Lions now have Bulls and Sharks in the crosshairs: ‘It’s a big month for us’

The Lions will be aiming to build on their impressive United Rugby Championship (URC) derby win over the Stormers at Ellis Park, with the Bulls at Loftus, followed up by a double header against the Sharks coming up over the next three weekends.

The Lions have struggled against South African opposition in the URC over the years, with this past weekend’s result just their second win over the Stormers against six losses, while they have only beaten the Bulls once and lost six times, and have beaten the Sharks twice while losing four.

It was thus the perfect buildup for the Lions ahead of their huge cross-Jukskei derby against the Bulls at Loftus on Saturday.

Cross-Jukskei derby

The Bulls comfortably beat the Lions at Ellis Park late last month, but the Johannesburg side can still be quietly confident as they seem to play well in Pretoria, after they beat the Bulls there during the 2022-23 season, and last season saw a penalty attempt to win on the fulltime hooter just drift wide.

So they will be targeting another upset on the Bulls’ home ground, especially with two tough games against the Sharks, at Ellis Park and then Kings Park, to follow straight after.

“It’s a big month for us. We know we need to perform more consistently against the South African teams. It’s been one of our main goals,” said Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen after the Stormers win.

“If you just look at the past few seasons, because you play them twice, if you can just win your home games it will make a 16 or 20 point difference on the log. So it (Stormers win) was important for us.

“It was important for us to prep well (and build momentum) for the Bulls. And then it’s interesting playing the same team (Sharks) twice in a row, that is always a different dynamic. So really happy with the win (against the Stormers), but we have three tough, physical games coming up.”

Springbok alignment camp

In the lead up to the Stormers game the Springboks announced the names of players to attend their first alignment camp of the season taking place in Cape Town in March, with eight Lions players selected. Renzo du Plessis, Francke Horn, Asenathi Ntlabakanye, Ruan Venter, Quan Horn, Edwill van der Merwe, Morne van den Berg and Henco van Wyk have all been picked and that has added a feel-good factor and given a boost to the team.

“Like I have mentioned before, if the team plays well then a lot of guys will get noticed for those higher honours. So there is a lot of positivity in the camp, because guys have been noticed,” said captain Francke Horn.

“But it’s still not an individual sport. If the team does well, like against the Stormers, players will stand out against other Springboks, and that’s how we are approaching it going forward.

“It’s not an individual sport, it’s a team sport, so be the best you can be for the team and the rest will look after itself.”