Lions up for physical Crusaders challenge
THE Lions go in search of a rare South African Super Rugby success as they chase a maiden title against seven-time winners the Canterbury Crusaders in tomorrow’s final at Ellis Park.
South African rugby reached crisis point last year when the national team lost eight of their 12 Tests, the worst season in their history, and a Lions victory tomorrow, especially against New Zealand opposition, would signal a much-needed revival in fortunes.
It is the second season in a row that the Johannesburg side have made the Super Rugby decider, but were toothless in their 20-3 defeat to the Hurricanes in Wellington last year and so threetime winners the Bulls remain the only South African winners of the competition since 1996.
Tomorrow’s final is also a farewell for coach Johan Ackermann, who leaves for English side Gloucester after the competition, with a sell-out 62 000 crowd set for his send-off.
Both teams go into tomorrow’s decider with 16-1 records this year, but home advantage for the Lions at the altitude of Ellis Park, even against a more pedigreed Crusaders side, could swing the game in their favour.
Ackermann has named an unchanged line-up from the team that has played throughout the knockout stages, with influential skipper Warren Whiteley still missing through injury.
“We can analyse the Crusaders as much as we want to, we know they are going to be physical. It is for us to be in their faces and to adapt if our plan doesn’t work,” Ackermann said.
The Crusaders are also unchanged from their 27-13 semifinal win over the Waikato Chiefs last weekend, and have reported no ill-effects from their dash across the Indian Ocean.
“We’ve acclimatised well and we have a good history over here,” Crusaders coach Scott Robinson said. “We are a bit isolated here, which is good, we don’t get so much of the hype. We are well aware of what is ahead of us.
“We know the important areas of the game, defence is obviously critical. Refs obviously come into play, it’s a different level with a different intensity. We know we have to be smart. It’s an occasion for big players to step up.”
The Crusaders will be captained by lock Sam Whitelock, and also have New Zealand captain and No 8 Kieran Read in their side as they seek a first Super Rugby victory since 2008.
Performed
“It’s been a long time... we’ve been to this big dance a few times before and haven’t performed,” Robinson said.
The last team to win a Super Rugby final played outside their country was in 2000 when the Crusaders beat the ACT Brumbies in Canberra.
Although the Lions initially slumped to a 22-3 deficit against the Hurricanes after a disappointing opening half-an-hour of action in last weekend’s semifinal, they then roared back to clinch a memorable 44-29 victory in the end.
After the clash, the Lions acknowledged that they had noticed that the Hurricanes were tiring before halftime, and with this in mind, they sought to up the intensity in the second stanza when they knew the altitude factor would begin to take its toll.
Buoyed by the vociferous support of their home crowd, the Lions endeavoured to play with the sort of pace and intensity that the Hurricanes struggled to handle, with the hosts ultimately outscoring their opponents 41-7 over the final 50 minutes of play.
It’s this sort of relentless, high- intensity approach that the Lions will now be looking to execute from the get-go against the Crusaders, who have lost just one game all season.
“We felt towards the end of the first half (of the semifinal) that the the Hurricanes were more tired than us,” Ackermann reflected.
“The reality is that they had the line speed, but our players were so direct that at some stage they couldn’t keep up, they couldn’t get off the line because we were in their faces.
– Reuters & ANA