Lions not overawed by big occasion

Lions captain Marius Louw is well aware of the challenge that awaits his team when they take on the inform Bulls in their United Rugby Championship (URC) cross-Jukskei derby at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday afternoon.

The Bulls will be favourites, having enjoyed a strong season so far while they also head into the game off the back of two strong Champions Cup wins, in contrast to the Lions who head in off two Challenge Cup losses.

However the Johannesburg side will not be overawed by the occasion, after they changed their fortunes against South African teams with a stunning upset win over the Bulls at Loftus last season.

On that occasion the Lions had lost 10 straight games against SA teams in the URC, and thanks to a 24-point haul from Sanele Nohamba they managed to clinch a 29-25 win.

Since then the Lions have been edged 35-33 by the Stormers at Ellis Park, and then stole a late 20-18 win over the Sharks in Durban, showing that they are a much more confident team when facing their local rivals.

“Over the past few years, the Lions have struggled to win against South African teams, but I think we got that monkey off our back last year. So now it’s just about sticking to our process and getting in a good performance before going on a little break,” Louw told a media conference.

“They’ve played a lot of good rugby over the last few weeks, especially at home. We know how dangerous they are. They are very physical, and they spread the ball wide with their backs. So it’s definitely going to be a tough one.”

The Lions will also be eager to bounce back well after they let a seemingly comfortable 28-17 lead slip in the final 10 minutes to go down 38-28 against Ospreys in their Challenge Cup clash last weekend.