Lions set for ‘vital’ European tour that could define their season

The Lions left for Europe on Wednesday for an exciting tour that will likely define their season by the end of it as they face important United Rugby Championship (URC) and Challenge Cup (EPCR) clashes.

The Lions are currently 11^th on the URC log and in the last 16 of the Challenge Cup, and by the time they return home they could be out of one competition and far off the pace in the other, or still going strong in both.

First up in the URC the Lions take on Connacht in Galway this weekend, followed by Ospreys in Swansea next week, and they will need to walk away with at least one win or a hatful of bonus points if they want to keep pace with the other teams above them on the log.

Packed squad

Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen explained that they were sending a packed squad on tour so they could challenge on all fronts over the coming weeks.

“We are travelling with a 28-man squad to hopefully accommodate a four-week tour. The first two games will be in the URC and it’s vitally important for us if you look at the log standings and how close everything is,” said Van Rooyen.

“We want to get as many points as possible from the first two games. We all know how tough Connacht is in Galway. I think they have only lost against the Irish teams there. So that will be a great challenge for us.

“We then face the Ospreys, who managed to beat us in January (in the Challenge Cup pool stage) in the dying minutes, so it will be important for us to go there and rectify what we did. There are some good lessons from that game that we can take into it.”

Challenge Cup

Following the URC games the Lions take on Benetton in their Challenge Cup last 16 clash in Treviso, where they will hope to pick up a win to continue on to the quarterfinals.

If they do progress to the last eight, they will likely be travelling back to Galway to face Connacht, or to France to face Pau for a place in the semifinals.

“The third game in the EPCR is against Benetton. I think 14 out of the 23 that played this (past) weekend for Italy (in the Six Nations) is in the Benetton team, so we know that they are going to be full of confidence,” said Van Rooyen.

“It’s an opportunity for us to keep on fighting and stay alive in the EPCR. We will probably look to use the squad a little bit there and see if we can beat them there and hopefully the week thereafter, we will go back to Connacht or Pau.

“Then when we return (to SA) it is Leinster and Munster (at home in the URC). So it is very important for us to use our full squad and see if we can maximise points over the next six weeks.”