Lions desperate to beat Cardiff to set right tone for big Euro tour — Steyn

The Lions know exactly how important their United Rugby Championship (URC) clash against Cardiff in Wales on Friday night will be in setting the tone for their European tour, as they battle it out on two fronts.

They are in a huge scrap for a place in the URC top eight come the end of the season to qualify for the quarterfinals and know what will be needed for them to do that, while they also have a Challenge Cup last 16 tie to contend with.

The Lions are eager to go as far as they can in both tournaments, and are thus hoping to get their tour off to the perfect start against Cardiff, before going on to face Glasgow Warriors in the URC and Edinburgh in the Challenge Cup, with both games in Scotland.

Tone setter

“The first game against Cardiff is a tone setter for the tour, and if we can come out on top we can really kick on and make it a positive tour. So all the focus is currently on Cardiff, training has gone very well and we have good plans for them,” said Lions scrumhalf Nico Steyn.

“The coaches had a good discussion with us at the end of last week already and the whole squad knows exactly what is needed for us to qualify for the playoffs.

“So this is a big tour for us, but we don’t want to put pressure on ourselves. I think if we can just do what we do best the rest will sort itself out.”

The Lions have just come off a tough run of local derbies, which saw them play four big games on consecutive weekends, with mixed results.

They started off with an impressive 30-23 win over the Stormers at Ellis Park, before going down 31-19 to the Bulls at Loftus, then bounced back with a thumping 38-14 win over the Sharks back at home, before following that up with a tight 25-22 defeat in the reverse fixture in Durban.

Derby run

Despite heading on tour off the back of a loss, Steyn says the team are proud of their performance in that match, and have gained a lot from their derby run in which they faced a slew of Springbok stars playing for the various franchises.

“The squad is feeling very good, everyone is in a positive mood. Coming out of this last game against the Sharks we did so well to get ourselves back into the game, especially after that first half when they pulled ahead,” explained Steyn.

“We then fought back really well and although we lost we have taken a lot of positives out of that game and now it’s just about finding a way to finish games off.

“They (the Sharks) are loaded with Springboks and any opposition wants to play against a team like that because that is where you get tested. But any derby game for us is a massive one.

“Playing against a South African team always brings a little extra out of you and is a fun game to play. So I think we took a lot out of those games.”