The South African Vodacom United Rugby Championship franchises will put their skills to the test in Europe for the first time in 2022 this weekend as all four sides face international opposition on short one-week tours after four intense rounds of derbies in South Africa.
The Emirates Lions will face arguably their toughest test thus far in the Vodacom URC when they head off to the RDS Arena tonight @ 21h35 to meet Leinster following a disappointing start to 2022 in which they suffered four defeats on the trot.
Leinster, on the contrary, has been in fine form with eight wins in their 10 matches to date, and they will look to build on their 26-7 victory against Ospreys when they host the Johannesburgers.
Unfortunately, only the end of the world could stop the hosts from beating the visitors comprehensively.
Emirates Lions head coach Ivan van Rooyen is set to unleash Ruan Venter and Junior Springbok, Quan Horn when his side takes on Leinster in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship at the RDS Arena on Friday.
The two, who have been impressive in junior and senior provincial competitions in the last year, will line up in a match 23 which sees centre Wandisile Simelane and Jordan Hendrikse make their return to the starting XV.
“We’re excited to see how Ruan and Quan go tomorrow. It’s an extended opportunity for them to immerse themselves into our system and ultimately express their talent on the big stage,” said Van Rooyen.
Van Rooyen further went on to comment on the privilege of touring as a team but at the same focusing on the job at hand come the weekend.
“Touring is always a great opportunity for the guys to strengthen bonds and build on our culture, which bodes well for team culture and ultimately on-field synergy.”
“In terms of our approach tomorrow night, the catalyst for us will be the ability to adapt our style of play and our decision making at key moments during the game,” cautions Van Rooyen.
Van Rooyen is optimistic about his side’s set piece play despite the challenges at lock, with a considerable amount of his jumpers out with injury.
“The focus will be ensuring we get accurate line-out ball to create a platform for us to launch our attack and hold onto possession for as long as we can. Leinster is a side that thrives on getting their hands on the ball,” he concluded.
Emirates Lions assistant coach Ricardo Loubscher expected a tough challenge against Leinster and said: “There is a reason why Leinster is the number one team and on top of the log. They have a brilliant squad; they basically have two A teams training together, so even without their internationals they are a very strong side.
“The important thing for us is to be disciplined for 80 minutes. All the Irish teams are fit, you look at their work rate around the park. They put you under massive pressure with their defence and their kicking game.”
Rhys Ruddock will captain Leinster on his 200th appearance for the province as they look to move into the outright lead in the United Rugby Championship against the Emirates Lions.
The 31-year-old, who has won 27 Ireland caps, made his debut for Leinster against the Dragons in December 2009 and will be joined in the back row by the returning Dan Leavy, making his first appearance since November.
Leinster reclaimed pole position in the URC with victory over the Ospreys last time out and have only suffered one defeat in the competition since November.
Their record on home soil in Dublin is also impressive, suffering a solitary loss in any competition during the past 10 months.
Stuart Lancaster said: "We spend a lot of time on ourselves and making sure we've got our preparations right because we know that if we get that right we're going to be a hard team to beat.
"But when you've not played a team before as much... we've played a lot against the Welsh and the Irish provinces and you know them pretty well, but this team we've not played before.
"We went back and looked at the results of those games at the start of the season when they came on that northern hemisphere tour. They just lost against Glasgow, had a relatively close game against Ulster, beat Zebre and lost against Scarlets.
"They've not had a huge number of wins so far, but they're probably the most adept at coming to the northern hemisphere because of the size and power of their pack."
Weather: 7° Celsius, cloudy with light rain expected and a southerly moderate wind.
Prediction: Leinster by 25.
Leinster: 15. Max O’Reilly, 14. Tommy O’Brien, 13. Jamie Osborne, 12. Harry Byrne, 11. Dave Kearney, 10. Ross Byrne, 9. Nick McCarthy, 8. Rhys Ruddock (c), 7. Dan Leavy, 6. Josh Murphy, 5. Joe McCarthy, 4. Devin Toner, 3. Michael Ala’alatoa, 2. James Tracy, 1. Ed Byrne. Replacements: 16. Seán Cronin, 17. Peter Dooley, 18. Thomas Clarkson, 19. Jack Dunne, 20. Max Deegan, 21. Luke McGrath, 22. Adam Byrne, 23. Scott Penny.
Emirates Lions: 15. Quan Horn, 14. Stean Pienaar, 13. Wandisile Simelane, 12. Burger Odendaal, 11. Edwill van der Merwe, 10. Jordan Hendrikse, 9. Morne van den Berg, 8. Francke Horn, 7. Ruan Venter, 6. Jaco Kriel (c), 5. Ruben Schoeman, 4. Peter-John Steenkamp, 3. Carlu Sadie, 2. Jaco Visagie, 1. Sithembiso Sithole. Replacements: 16. Pieter Botha, 17. Morgan Naude, 18. Ruan Dreyer, 19. Lunga Ncube, 20. Sibusiso Sangweni, 21. Nico Steyn, 22. Manuel Rass, 23. Tiaan Swanepoel.