Sharks ‘still a tough ask’

Lions captain Jaco Kriel (below) believes one of the team’s success stories has been the ability not to look too far ahead and treat every match on its merit.

Despite them being in the ideal position to host a possible Super Rugby final, it’s not part of their thinking process at this time.

With the Lions hosting the Sharks in one of the quarterfinals at what is expected to be a packed Ellis Park on Saturday, Kriel cautioned that in both games against the Sharks it wasn’t exactly plain sailing.

“The whole year we have taken it week by week and even last week the routine stayed as normal,” he said.

Kriel said they just love this game and it’s so great to play it and to be top of the table is “an amazing feeling”.

“But we knew the Sharks were going to be tough at home.

“They are even going to be more of a different monster this week, but I can’t wait for this weekend,” he said.

While the Sharks earlier pushed the Lions hard before losing 34-29 at Ellis Park, they seemed to go off their game in the second half in Durban where the Lions won 27-10.

“The Sharks are always tough to play against, like in the first game they came for us, they ran hard at us.

“Last weekend though was a bit scrappy from both sides and we both have a lot to work on,” he said.

Man-of-the-Match, flank Kwagga Smith, said they knew it was going to be a tough one because the Sharks are a quality team and they rolled it out on Saturday.

“I think for us, we need to go back to the drawing board, to the things we can do well, and not focus so much on the opponents.

“It’s my fourth award but I can only thank the team and God giving the privilege to play this great game and to play with this team is just amazing,” he said.