Lions reveal their 'omphalos' as Leinster looms
When the Lions enter the cauldron that is Lansdowne Road on May 30, they will be clear underdogs.
Leinster, who faced Bordeaux Bègles in the Champions Cup Final at Nuevo San Mamés in Bilbao on Saturday, was on a 13-match winning streak across all competitions in Dublin.
They are also littered with Irish internationals, as well as a host of British and Irish Lions Test players.
On the opposite end of the scale is a Lions team on a losing streak, with only a sprinkling of Springboks and three of their main stars unavailable.
Without the banned prop Asenathi Ntlabakanye, as well as injured flank Ruan Venter and injured scrumhalf Morné van den Berg, the Lions look a lot less threatening.
Yet Irish fans at the Palindrome will see the same energetic, determined approach that has been on display since the Lions’ arrival in Ireland.
Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen reiterated his earlier statements that the Lions were ‘in the contest’ for 68 minutes during their 7-31 loss in their last visit to Dublin a fortnight ago.
At just 7-14 down, with just over 10 minutes remaining, the South African franchise had hopes of an upset.
However, three tries between minutes 69 and 79 blew the scoreline out.
“I am under no illusion that was not their full-strength team,” Van Rooyen said, adding that three defensive errors and three really tough calls from the match officials contributed to the final scoreline.
“The same applied to the game against Munster [a 17-24 loss in Limerick] in that first maul.
“It could have been a penalty try and a yellow card.”
The coach added that they also left a lot of points on the table by not finishing off the opportunities they created in the last two rounds of league action.
“Players like Sibabalwe Mahashe and Bathobele Hlekani have never experienced this type of environment before.
“This is still a young group, so there are a lot of first ‘learnings’ and first experiences.
“We are challenging them hard to learn quickly and adapt quickly,” Van Rooyen said, adding: “They will have plans and we will have plans.
“We are excited about the Leinster opportunity, even without Asap [Ntlabakanye], [Ruan] Venter and Krappies [Van den Berg].
“We are excited about how we can adapt and how we can learn for a massive quarterfinal against Leinster.
“They are likely to select their ‘A’ team, which means we’ll be facing Ireland.”
The coach added that there was also some ‘honesty’ about where they need to be better.
(WATCH the Lions coaching staff opens up ahead of the URC quarterfinal face-off against Leinster…..)
Former Springbok fullback and Lions attack coach Ricardo Loubscher said ‘discipline with ball in hand’ is one of the omphalos in the build-up.
“They put us under massive pressure with their line speed,” he said of Leinster’s Jacques Nienaber-inspired defensive pattern.
“We will have to come up with solutions for the defensive line speed.
“Against Munster, it was about ‘being in the moment’ and making the right decisions.
“That has been a big focus for us.”
In the Leinster loss, the Lions conceded 14 turnovers, and there were 28 missed tackles.
A week later, in Limerick, the turnovers were again well into double digits, to go with 22 missed tackles.
Leinster come off a fourth Champions Cup Final appearance in the last five seasons.
They finished as runners-up in three consecutive campaigns before last year’s shock semifinal exit at home to Northampton Saints, and fell short on Saturday again against Bordeaux-Begles.
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The reigning URC champions have a busy schedule, playing hosts to the Lions following their trip to Spain this weekend.
Leinster has been nothing short of flawless in Europe this year, winning all seven matches up until the Final, running riot in most matches, including a 43-13 rampage over Sale Sharks in the quarterfinal.
The Irish province will go all out to retain its URC crown after following their Champions Cup Final defeat to salvage the season.
