Lions coach heaps the pressure on hosts

Lions coach Johan Ackermann believes ‘‘all the pressure is on the Hurricanes’’ for a Super Rugby final where the bookmakers have made the New Zealand side overwhelming favourites.

Ackermann’s Lions continued their impressive run with a 42-30 semifinal win over the Highlanders in Johannesburg yesterday.

The Lions must now travel to Wellington for the final after the top-ranked Hurricanes dispatched the Chiefs 25-9 in the earlier semifinal.

‘‘It is a big challenge against a tremendous Hurricanes side,’’ Ackermann said as the Lions look to overcome a Super Rugby bogey that has seen all 10 South African sides lose playoff matches in New Zealand through the history of the championship since 1996.

‘‘The guys love touring and hopefully we will travel well. We will give it our best shot – there is nothing more I can ask from the guys.

‘‘All the pressure is on the Hurricanes. They ended No.1 and they are playing at home, so we can just go out there and enjoy our game.’’

Bookmakers in both New Zealand and South Africa have been quick to install the Hurricanes as the team most likely to lift their first trophy with both finalists never having won the championship.

The New zealand TAB lists the Hurricanes at $1.37 to the Lions at $3.05.

They are also favouring a resounding victory with the Hurricanes favoured to win with a points differential of 13 or more ($2.45) compared to 12 points or less ($2.85).

In South Africa, betting agency grandplay.co.za lists the Canes at $1.40 compared to the Lions at $2.15.

And worldsportsbetting.co.za has similar odds with the Hurricanes at $1.35 and the Lions at $2.90.

Lions star Elton Jantjies was delighted with the Lions’ win over the Highlanders.

He scored 22 points to earn man of the match honours and looms as a key to the Lions’ chances in the final with his astute play at first-five and goalkicking abilities.

‘‘I don’t have a lot of words, but it is a big year. We still have another week to go,’’ Jantjies said.

He credited the Lions’ defence for helping the win, believing they had lifted their game in this area after last week’s patchy quarter-final win over the Crusaders.

‘‘We had to take responsibility, especially after last week [against the Crusaders] when we missed a few one-on-one tackles – we had to fix it this week,’’ he added.