'It's simple': Lions want to rattle Leinster with key advantage
SPOTLIGHT: Lions captain Marius Louw admitted that his team will be relying on the thin air in Johannesburg to do its job when they face Leinster in a United Rugby Championship Round 17 clash.
The Irish giants are on their way to South Africa for two matches. After the Lions match, they will head to Pretoria to take on the Bulls.
Leinster have decided to leave their international stars at home and included a number of Academy players in their travelling squad.
Leinster’s Bok lock Jason Jenkins spoke about how altitude will be a factor in the match, but he believes it is something the players can overcome with a “session or two” in training on the Highveld.
There is also the opinion that players are quick to adapt to new environments as travelling to different countries has become a big part of professional rugby.
However, Louw believes the thin air is something the Leinster players can’t wish away.
“When I was at the Sharks, I played at Ellis Park multiple times and you never get used to it,” said Louw.
“Travelling here is definitely something we look at.
“They are obviously a very professional team and they are a team that pride themselves on work rate and you can see that.
“It is not that they will ever give up, but we do want to play that [altitude] into our favour.
“They haven’t been here and we just want to throw as many punches as we can.”
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#SPOTLIGHT: A familiar face will be spotted at Loftus Versfeld and Ellis Park 👇#URC #Bulls #Lions #Leinster #LIOvLEI #BULvLEI https://t.co/1mi69OBXCZ
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On those “punches”, Louw wants his team, who are still in the race for a play-off place, to make life difficult for Leinster in all areas of the game.
“It’s about what we can control,” said Louw.
“The set-piece is something we pride ourselves on and lately we have been really good there.
“Whatever we want to do we want to make it a competition. For us, that is winning the breakdown to make sure we get quick ball.
“We know they [Leinster] thrive on quick ball, so we want to make sure that we slow them down.
“We want to stop them on defence and we obviously want to be direct first, so we want to beat them in all aspects of the game.
“It’s simple for us and it is nothing special.
“When you put yourself in as many battles as you can, eventually you will come out on top.”
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