‘We are at that level’: Lions ready to have their depth tested over a tough season
· Citizen
The Lions are set to see the depth of their squad tested over a very tough season in the United Rugby Championship (URC) and the premier Champions Cup competitions.
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Last season was a breakout campaign for the Lions, as they reached the URC playoffs for the first time after finishing seventh on the log, and that also earned them a first ever place in the Champions Cup.
The Champions Cup is arguably the most competitive franchise rugby competition in the world, featuring only the highest placed teams in the French Top 14, English Premiership and URC, and it is an incredibly sought after trophy.
Previously the Lions finished in the URC top eight, so they were consigned to the second-tier Challenge Cup competition, where their best ever placing was reaching the quarter-finals in their first season.
They followed that up with two last 16 appearances, while last season they were knocked out in the Challenge Cup pool stage to not even reach the knockouts.
But their focus was on the URC, which saw them rotate their squad heavily and name very weakened teams for a number of those Challenge Cup pool matches, and that in the end cost them.
Stepping up
However, that is not something they will be able to do in the Champions Cup, as they will want to put in a good showing in the competition, while they will also know if they play a heavily weakened team they will likely receive a heavy hiding.
The Lions also couldn’t ask for a much tougher start to their first Champions Cup, with a clash against La Rochelle – who won the competition back-to-back in the 2021/22 and 2022/23 seasons – in France later this month.
“It’s tough. You want to do well in the Champions Cup as well. In our planning we play our first game away (against La Rochelle in France) and then two URC games against Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh (in Scotland),” explained Lions assistant coach Jaque Fourie earlier this week.
“So we have to take our best side. We also want to do well because it is our first time in the competition, and we are going to have to play our best team as much as we can.
“So it makes it tough because we have two top competitions that we want to do well in, and we want to do our best in both competitions and see how far we can go.”
Squad depth
The Lions didn’t take the Challenge Cup as seriously as they did the URC in previous seasons, and that is largely due to them not having much depth in their squad.
But they have steadily built depth over the past few years, and they are now in a position to be able to make a few changes and not feel a dip in quality, according to Fourie, and they won’t have to fear rotating their squad when they have to.
“I think it’s more about consistency. But I also think our squad is finally at that level where we can start rotating (confidently). We have a lot of good players and the team is really looking good. We had a good pre-season, so we’ve got faith in our squad,” said Fourie.
“At some stage we are going to have to rotate. We can’t have the kind of game time some of the guys had last season, so we are going to have to rotate. But like I said I think the players we have are good enough that we can rotate and still perform well.”