Lions sweating over Franco

Lions coach Johan Ackermann faces an anxious wait to see whether experienced lock Franco van der Merwe will be fit in time to face the Bulls.

Van der Merwe has been a constant presence in the highly disrupted Lions tight five this season, but is still suffering from an injury he picked up in the victory over the Rebels on Friday and Ackermann will wait until the last minute to decide whether he is able to face the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

He told this website: "We are still waiting for Franco van der Merwe, he injured his calf on the weekend that is why I had to take him off on Saturday.

"We are going to give him until Thursday but he is still quite sore so it is not looking too good but we will give him as much time as we can to make a decision on that," added the Lions coach.

Ackermann said that his side will have to show far more consistency this weekend if they are to upset the Bulls on home turf.

After racing to an early lead last week the Lions lost focus and had to fight hard to secure their second consecutive win at home.

"We started so well and it was a good win at the end, but we made it tough for ourselves by going into sleep mode in the second half but it is good to have those back-to-back wins at home," said Ackermann.

Depending on other results, a win in Pretoria could lift the Lions out of last position, but Ackermann said that his team was not focused on their log position and just want to put in a solid performance to end the season.

"It will be good but at the end of the day our season was not good enough and regardless of whether we finish 15th or 14th it is not where we wished to be. I think we would just like to end off with a win and to play well," he said.

By Michael de Vries