Hectic end of season run-in will test Lions’ appetite for success

The Lions are set to embark on a hectic end of season run-in from next weekend, where they will be playing at least eight games over a 10-week period as they battle it out in the United Rugby Championship URC and Challenge Cup. Sitting 11th on the URC log and in the last-16 of the Challenge Cup the Lions will have hopes of progressing further in both competitions, but they will know that they have an extremely tough finish to their season.

The Lions have a vital and extremely tricky three-game European tour to try and navigate in both the URC and Challenge Cup, and by the end of it they could essentially be out of both competitions.

In the URC the Lions face Connacht in Ireland and Ospreys in Wales, before they head over to Italy to take on Benetton in the Challenge Cup.

Three points off the URC top eight, a placing which is needed to reach the play-offs, the Lions will have to win at least one of their two away games if they want to stay in the knockout hunt, as two losses would arguably leave them with too much to do down the back straight.

Against Connacht they face a team they have yet to beat in the URC, having lost 33-30 at home in their first season and being powerfully brushed aside 43-24 in their second season.

Where the Lions could have a chance is perhaps based on how many of their Irish internationals Connacht bring back into their side in the first weekend after the Six Nations, or if they choose to rest most of them, leaving the Lions with a chance to clinch a win against a weakened team.

Ospreys would ordinarily be the team that the Lions would be targeting for a win, but the fact that the Welsh side won their most recent encounter in Johannesburg indicates it could be anyone’s game.

The Lions beat Ospreys in their first season in the URC comfortably at home 45-15, and then clinched a thrilling 28-27 win in Swansea in their second campaign.

However, Ospreys stunned them 38-28 in their Challenge Cup pool match at Ellis Park in January to show that they are not a team to be underestimated. With Ospreys in a similar position to the Lions at 10th on the log, it will be an important game for both sides.

Following that the Lions then head to Treviso where they will take on Benetton for a place in the Challenge Cup quarterfinals.

Benetton is a side the Lions have beaten twice in the URC, 37-29 at home in their first season and 32-28 away in their second, but in their most recent clash in their current campaign they went down 15-10 in Italy.

Benetton have been a lot better this season than in previous campaigns, so they will be dangerous opponents, but it is another game that could go either way.

If the Lions come away from this trip with three losses, their season would effectively be over, but if they can at least pick up two wins they could head back home fighting on both fronts.

Their return to SA doesn’t get any easier as they face Irish powerhouses Leinster and Munster, in-form Scottish giants Glasgow Warriors, and the Stormers in Cape Town. –