Lions expect a physical battle

The Lions are prepared and ready for another physical challenge when they take on Ospreys in their United Rugby Championship clash at Ellis Park tonight (kick-off 7pm).

Having enjoyed a resurgence over the past two weeks with a bonus point win over Cardiff and a bruising two point victory over Munster, the Lions head into the match with plenty of confidence.

“Ospreys are a nice big, physical team. They pride themselves on their physicality and they pride themselves on gaining momentum. So similar to Munster, it is a physical challenge for us,” admitted Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen.

“If we don’t stop momentum and aren’t effective and accurate enough at our attacking and defensive breakdowns, I think they could get ascendancy there and then they have the ability to punish us. So those areas are big focus points for us.”

The home side will look to their powerful forward pack to lay the platform for their backline to fire off, with the backs having run in five of the Lions six tries over the past two weekends.

After a quiet start to the year they finally look to be hitting their straps and they will be aiming to put Ospreys under pressure with quick ball and strong, direct running.

“I think we’ve got some confidence in our attack now but last week we made it a bit of a dog fight, so hopefully we can stay away from that and exploit space on the outside,” said Lions captain Burger Odendaal (above).

“Hopefully we can keep turning things around attack-wise this weekend. I think we let ourselves down and mainly relied on our defence against Munster.”

A boost for the Lions was also the relaxation of Covid-19 protocols, with up to 50% stadium capacity now allowed.

“It’s massive for us as players, but we still have to give our best performance to actually invite fans back to the stadium,” added Odendaal.