Bok legends' sage advice: 'Do not make the occasion bigger than it is'
SPOTLIGHT: Jaque Fourie and Morné Steyn are icons of the game in South Africa.
Fourie, 43, won a World Cup in 2007, and was then joined by Steyn (41) to beat the British and Irish Lions thrillingly two years later.
Steyn kicked the series-winning penalty from 50 metres out (on the angle) at Loftus Versfeld, a feat he repeated 12 years later in Cape Town, when he kicked another beauty of a penalty to break B&I Lions hearts again.
Between them, they have 140 Test caps, Fourie with 72 and Steyn 68.
They are ideally placed to tell the Lions what it takes to overcome the odds.
The Lions, no doubt, will be rank outsiders when they face off against Leinster in a United Rugby Championship quarterfinal in Dublin on Saturday.
Yes, the Irish province may be smarting from their humbling loss (19-41) to Union Bordeaux Bègles in the Champions Cup Final this past weekend.
There may be some residual mental scars from the trip to Spain, but they are facing a Lions sans three key Springboks in banned prop Asenathi Ntlabakanye, as well as injured flank Ruan Venter and injured scrumhalf Morné van den Berg.
Leinster are overwhelming favourites, the Lions having never beaten Leinster in Ireland, and Leinster won the most recent meeting 31-7 earlier this month.
Irish pundits and media overwhelmingly favour Leinster.
Even while acknowledging the Lions’ attacking flair, the consensus expects a comfortable home victory for Leinster, pointing to the Irish province’s deep squad, formidable history in Dublin, and strong motivation to bounce back from the past weekend’s disappointment.
Fourie and Steyn have some sage advice for the visitors.
Steyn, the kicking coach, warned the players not to become starry-eyed or starstruck and treat it as a normal game.
“We must not make the occasion bigger than it is, and just go out and have fun,” Steyn said.
“No one is giving us a chance, which is a good thing for us.”
He admitted it is a tall order to win in Dublin.
“It will be tough,” he told Rugby365, adding: “We might get three or four [scoring] chances, which we must finish off.
“It is a quarterfinal and anything can happen.
“The ball isn’t round, and we’ve been involved in finals where the ball didn’t bounce our way.”
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Fourie, the defence mentor, had similar sage advice.
“We are playing in a quarterfinal with a young group of guys,” Fourie said.
“The nice thing about it, if you take players like Siba Mahashe and Batho Hlekani, they’re so young that they sometimes don’t even care about the opponents they’re up against.
“They just want to play rugby.
“Sometimes, that’s a really nice thing that they don’t overthink the occasion.
“It is a quarterfinal, but for us as a management group, the team has to buy into our plans, and we all know that play-off rugby is a different beast where anything can happen.
“We must just be up for it on the day and give it our all.”
The Lions have shown glimpses of formidable physicality and attacking momentum this season.
However, executing their game plan under the intense pressure of Leinster’s aggressive rush defence will be the ultimate test.
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