Ellis Park looms large for WP
Province were taught some hard lessons in a 32-62 drubbing in Johannesburg earlier in the season which they have reflected on ahead of the Currie Cup Final at the same venue this weekend.
Scrumhalf Nic Groom said that the altitude is the least of the Cape side's worries as they prepare to face an unbeaten Lions side who always raise their game in front of their home crowd.
"It is basically like playing with a snorkel in your mouth, but other than that they are a fired-up side at home.
"They are almost double the intensity when they play at Ellis Park, so that is a big challenge for us and something we didn't take care of the last time we went there, so we are aware of that.
"They are a passionate group who take a lot of pride playing at Ellis Park. They have been the best team in the comp this far but at this stage it is an uncontrollable where we play," he said.
Groom said that the way Province bounced back from that heavy defeat at Ellis Park has given them belief that they can pull off an upset in the final on Saturday.
"To take about 30 points and then be able to beat the Bulls away at Loftus, that doesn't happen often and I think that shows the resilience of the group.
"Nothing great ever happens in ideal circumstances, so we are going to take a lot of heart from that. We always said that in order to win we need to learn something from every outing.
"We learned a lot in that game and we will definitely look to rectify things," he said.
The scrumhalf admitted his admiration for what the Lions have achieved by keeping a settled core of players together.
"They have sort of had the same side without many players coming or going for the last three year now playing a running and passing game, I think they are leading the way in a lot of respects there," he said.
However, the scrumhalf said that his side have their sights firmly fixed on creating a legacy by backing up their win in the final last year against the Lions with one away from home.
"As a group we want to leave a legacy, we want to look back at our times at Province and have a similar experience to what some of those guys in the 80s had, the golden era.
"If you want to do something special then going back to back is almost a necessity," he added.
By Michael de Vries
