Buoyed by their impressive start to the season, the unbeaten Lions are now targeting their first two away fixtures for points to help them on their road to their United Rugby Championship (URC) goal — finishing in the top four of the competition.
The Lions set the ambitious goal before the season started, having finished outside the top eight last season and their incredible first-half performance against Edinburgh last weekend reignited hopes they may be able to achieve this, especially as one of only three sides unbeaten in the competition.
They now head offshore for their three-week tour, which by all accounts should be something they are looking forward to.
Dragons and Zebre are their first two opponents, and while a lot better than last season, both will be targeted for victories on a tour that could catapult them towards the goal they are looking for.
If that happens, they have a final pool showdown against Leinster in Dublin, and even though they won’t be fancied to win that one, they can return with four wins out of five for the start of the competition before heading into the EPCR Challenge Cup fixtures.
All this will be remarkable if it happens, and you can’t help but understand why Lions fans are dreaming — their play over the first two weeks of the competition is a direct result of their games in the Currie Cup, a tight-cohesive squad and a clear goal in how they want to play.
The Lions know their smaller squad may well catch up with them by the end of the season, but for now they have hit the ground running and are looking to capitalise.
And a lot of that has to do with how they managed their players during the Currie Cup.
Coach Ivan van Rooyen admitted this was a key part to their form thus far, and they will be looking to ensure they don’t let up ahead of a tough season ahead.
“It's the alignment and understanding of the whole system,” Van Rooyen said. “We knew we wanted to target the Currie Cup and see if we can win it. We were quite open with everyone around that.
“There was good alignment between the Currie Cup coaches and management and the URC coaches and management.
“Training against each other every day in the build-up to URC, there was some good synergy there.”
SuperSport.com
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