Lions eager for strong start to season against Ulster

The Lions have a golden opportunity to get their United Rugby Championship (URC) campaign off to an absolute flyer when they host Irish giants Ulster at Ellis Park on Saturday afternoon (kick-off 12:55pm).

Although their focus will be solely on this weekend, it is hard not to look a bit ahead and see that a solid start at home could set them up perfectly for a charge at the URC top eight this season.

With two home games, against Ulster and Scottish side Edinburgh, to start, the Lions then head overseas for their first tour where they will take on Dragons, Zebre and Leinster.

If they can get wins over Ulster and Edinburgh first up, the Lions will head over to the UK and Italy in high spirits and confident in getting away wins over Dragons and Zebre, which would put them in a great position ahead of the Leinster game.

“A good start for us is vital. We really want a good start at home. If we can get a good result against Ulster we can then take that into the second game (against Edinburgh),” said Lions assistant coach Barend Pieterse earlier this week.

“Dragons and Zebre away are not easy games. A lot of teams struggled, especially at Zebre. So we will think about those games when we get over there.”

It could however all hinge on their URC opener against Ulster, who may field a weakened team on their tour to SA to manage their workload, although Pieterse believes that no matter who they put out it will be a tough challenge.

Difficult team

“They will always be a difficult team. I know they are travelling and we are playing them at 1pm and all of that. But they have a number of dangerous players. They have brought some new players in that gives them more of an attacking threat,” explained Pieterse.

“From a set piece point of view that will always be strong. They struggled a little bit in the scrums (last weekend against Glasgow), but that is something we think they will sort out. They also have a very good lineout in terms of mauling.

“So even though they are travelling and everything, they have a good system. We can expect them to have a go as well. I don’t think they will come here just to roll over. So it is going to be a tough game.

“If we are not going to start well or if we let them score easy tries, it doesn’t matter what team they put out, we will be in for a long day.”

The Lions will be captained by Francke Horn in the match, with regular captain Marius Louw out injured, while fellow URC regular JC Pretorius also misses out.

Sanele Nohamba will start at scrumhalf with Kade Wolhuter at flyhalf, flying wing Tapiwa Mafura will make his URC debut, and Henco van Wyk returns from a long term injury off the bench.