The Lions will have the Vodacom United Rugby Championship South African Shield in their sights when they host the DHL Stormers in their final derby of the season this weekend.
They put themselves right back in the mix for the trophy by claiming a 34-22 bonus point victory over the Hollywoodbets Sharks in last Saturday’s rearranged fixture in Johannesburg. That has taken them within a point of the table-topping Sharks as the battle for the domestic Shield reaches a crescendo.
If the Lions can beat the Stormers at Ellis Park on Saturday, the silverware would then be theirs if the Sharks lose to the Vodacom Bulls at Pretoria’s Loftus Versfeld later in the afternoon.
So these are exciting times for Ivan van Rooyen’s team. They have come so close to trophy triumphs in recent times, losing successive Carling Currie Cup finals to last-gasp kicks. Could this now be their time?
“Let’s be honest, we haven’t won a lot of silverware in the last three or four years,” said head coach Van Rooyen. “So it’s really nice for us to have this opportunity.”
But he knows it won’t be easy against a Stormers side who will be smarting from back-to-back defeats against the Sharks. “They didn’t get the wins there, after playing the Sharks twice,” he said.
“We know how proud they are, we know the quality they have. If you are not going to be 110 per cent ready for the Stormers, then they can absolutely tear you apart. So we know that we need to be good.”
Giving his thoughts on this weekend’s clash, skipper Francke Horn said: “It’s a derby, it’s a Shield on the line. “I don’t think there’s one player who won’t be excited. But with that excitement must come accuracy. We must be clinical and play in the system.”
The Lions’ four-try win over the Sharks saw them bounce back from a thumping 52-17 defeat at home to the Bulls in their previous league outing three weeks ago. “We are all proud men in the changing rooms, and the performance we gave against the Bulls wasn’t up to our standard,” admitted No 8 Horn. "It was quite tough to take. That’s not what we want to stand for. We want to stand for a team that has energy, that has hunger and plays a good brand of rugby.
“I think we showed that against the Sharks. There was a lot more maturity and calmness among the guys. We were playing rugby in the right areas of the field. It was an area of growth for us in terms of not getting tunnel vision 30 minutes in and realising there were another 50 minutes left. I was proud of how the boys reacted on that.
“We stayed calm and made plans. As soon as they got points, we got points immediately back.”
Van Rooyen was equally delighted with the response from his players as they secured a victory which has taken them up to seventh in the overall Vodacom URC table.
“We were clearly bitterly disappointed after the Bulls' performance,” he admitted. "We perceived like we were getting hammered from the beginning of that game. So it was a good response from us against the Sharks. There were some good solutions. To walk away with five points, I was really proud and really happy. I feel mentally we did grow a little bit these past few weeks.
“With the Sharks’ defence and their aggression, if you don’t get one or two things right against them, it can really put you under pressure. If you look at their two previous matches, their kicking game really suffocated the Stormers and their set-piece really did well. So I was proud of our reaction, proud of our plans.
“It was about staying in the moment and staying focused. It was about backing ourselves enough to create opportunities against a really good Sharks defence and then having the patience to execute them.”
Vodacom URC South African Shield
Results so far.
Vodacom Bulls 33, Lions 43
DHL Stormers 34, Lions 27
Hollywoodbets Sharks 21, Vodacom Bulls 12
Hollywoodbets Sharks 22, Lions 23
DHL Stormers 13, Vodacom Bulls 8
DHL Stormers 19, Hollywoodbets Sharks 30
Lions 17, Vodacom Bulls 52
Hollywoodbets Sharks 36, DHL Stormers 24
Lions 34, Hollywoodbets Sharks 22
Table
Hollywoodbets Sharks - Played 5, Points 16
Lions - Played 5, Points 15
DHL Stormers - Played 4, Points 9
Vodacom Bulls - Played 4, Points 7
Remaining fixtures
Saturday, February 28
Lions v DHL Stormers (12.30 UK / 14:30 SA)
Vodacom Bulls v Hollywoodbets Sharks (15:00 UK / 17:00 SA)
Saturday, March 14
Vodacom Bulls v DHL Stormers (12:00 UK / 14:00 SA)