JOHANNESBURG - There is a lot more on the line on Saturday - and possibly in the coming weeks, too - than has been the case up to now, but the Lions will stick to the attack-from-all-parts game that has got them into the Super Rugby playoffs for the second year running.
Johan Ackermann’s men will host the Sharks at Ellis Park for a place in the semi-finals; the winner going through to meet either the Hurricanes or Brumbies, who are set to play each other in Canberra early Saturday morning.
It is the third meeting between the Lions and Sharks this season, the last coming just last Saturday when Ackermann’s men won 27-10 in Durban.
The Lions are favourites to progress after also beating Robert du Preez’s team in Johannesburg in the round-robin stage and because they’re playing at home, but there will certainly be more pressure on the hosts tomorrow than at any stage of the season.
So will that mean a change in approach perhaps from the Lions, who’ll be desperate to make up for losing the final last year?
“We’ve done the hard part in the sense (that) we’re at home for as long as we stay in the competition. So at least we know there’s no travel factor this year,” said Ackermann.
“Also we can just about bank on the weather being good and the surface being dry ... and that means we can stick to the type of rugby that has brought us to this point.
“We like playing a certain way and changing now would do us no good. The recipe (of running the ball and looking to score tries) has worked for us and the players are comfortable with it so we’ll keep at it.
“My players are like race horses... they’ve been groomed and drilled to play a certain way and it would be unfair on them if I asked them to change now.
“I want them to play with freedom, with intensity and accuracy, from the first minute,” the Lions coach added.