Despite being on the cusp of a first every appearance in the United Rugby Championship (URC) knockouts, and the fact that they only need a few bonus points to secure that, the Lions are going all in to try and beat Leinster at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Saturday (kick-off 6:30pm).
The internationally laden Irish giants are the competition defending champs and are currently in a huge top four scrap, with them level on points with the Lions but behind them on points difference.
They also have to balance their upcoming Champions Cup final appearance against French giants Bordeaux Begles in just over two weeks, before heading into the URC knockouts.
Although the odds are stacked heavily against the Lions, who have only beaten Leinster once in the URC, they are on a six game winning run, so will be full of confidence as they chase a first ever win in Dublin.
“We all know it’s tough touring to Ireland and playing one of the oldest clubs in the world, Leinster. But we came here with a vision and that is that it’s make or break for us. So we came here to win. We’re not here to just play around. We’re not here just to compete,” said Lions assistant coach Jaque Fourie.
“We want to win Saturday’s game and then we’ll take it from there. I think, at the moment, our season has been taken game for game and it’s all in our own hands. Whatever’s going to happen Saturday, it’s not in someone else’s hands.
“We can’t expect the other teams to do us a favour. I think, at the end of the day, it comes down to what we’re going to do Saturday and it comes down to us.”
Only win
The Lions only win over Leinster in the URC so far was a 44-12 thrashing of a very weakened touring side at Ellis Park in the 2023-24 season, while they also suffered a 39-36 home loss a season before that.
But in Ireland the Lions have been very competitive, going down 21-13 back in the first season of the URC, while in last season’s campaign they pushed the hosts all the way before losing 24-6.
“Last year’s game was entirely different circumstances. I think we were in the game at the end. They got a penalty try and the scorecard didn’t reflect how we played on the day. For us now, I think we’ve had six unbelievable matches at home and built a lot of confidence,” explained Fourie.
“But that’s stuff that you need when you come to Leinster to play them here at the Aviva Stadium. So not only that, I think we’ve also found our identity. So we know how we want to play on Saturday.
“We know what we need to do to win and to beat Leinster. Now it’s just to put a fine tune on training and then rock up on Saturday and put in a good performance.”
