Make or break: Lions players ready to step up and be counted when URC resumes

The Lions players are readying themselves to make the step up and be counted as they chase a first appearance in the United Rugby Championship (URC) playoffs at the end of the current season.

In their three URC campaigns, the Lions have never finished in the top eight, which secures a place in the quarterfinals, but have had two ninth placed finishes over the past two seasons.

Lions captain Francke Horn thus believes this is a huge opportunity for the players to prove their worth and show that they belong in the upper echelons of the URC.

That is easier said than done, as a poor UK tour over the past month saw the Lions slip to defeats against Cardiff and Glasgow Warriors that dropped them to 14^th on a congested URC log, while they were also dumped out of the EPCR Challenge Cup by Edinburgh.

They have thus lost their last four straight games, after going down to the Sharks in Durban just before the tour, and they have to somehow turn that form around with four URC pool games remaining, all on their home turf, Ellis Park.

“I think it’s a big opportunity for us as players to make a step up, and I think a lot of responsibility needs to be put on our shoulders,” explained Horn.

“I think everyone will agree that it wasn’t our standard on tour. But we are really looking forward to playing in front of our home crowd back at Ellis Park.

Ready for challenge

“I know the guys will be up and ready for the challenge. We have our pride and we want to be the best that we can possibly be. So we have a lot of confidence going into the next four games.

“We are really looking forward to building some momentum (over the coming games) so that we can play in the playoffs come the end of the season.”

The Lions landed back in SA from their tour on Monday and received a couple of days off to refresh and recover, before getting back down to training on Thursday.

They have the coming weekend off, with the EPCR quarterfinals being battled out, before playing four URC matches over five weeks, with a break in the middle for the EPCR semis, in which time they need to claw their way into the URC top eight.

“It is a really important week and a half for us, especially physically and mentally. We need to make sure that all the players, management and staff are all on the same page,” said Horn.

“We have to know the plan exactly so that we can maximise our points over the next four games to give ourselves the best opportunity to make the playoffs.”

First up for the Lions in their end of season run is Benetton this weekend, before they take on Connacht, Scarlets and Ospreys to close out the pool stage, and hopefully progress to the quarterfinals.