Lions target EPCR breakthrough as they look to back up Sharks scalp against Lyon

The Lions have stressed the importance of following up the weekend's impressive away performance in the United Rugby Championship with another in Saturday's home game against Lyon in the EPCR Challenge Cup.

The Joburg side is still searching for their first win of the truncated competition after losing their opening two matches.        

"The difficult thing with the French teams is that you never know which team they are going to put out, even at home. But what we all know about the French, not just Lyon, is that they are very good once they get momentum, they can generate further momentum. They have a very good kicking game, so they are clever with when they kick and are cautious in their own half until they feel that there is an attacking opportunity and that's when they are sharp," Lions forwards coach Julian Redelinghuys said at a media conference on Tuesday, ahead of the weekend's clash.

"It's difficult to prepare for specific players because you don't know if they will come, but in general for the specific way they play."

The temptation may have been to make wholesale changes to the team that beat the Sharks in Saturday's thriller in Durban, but Redelinghuys revealed that would not be the case.

"Our position has naturally changed a bit. Our two EPCR matches didn't go so well and we feel we're busy building momentum with the URC so we'll definitely use the next few weeks to give guys that really played a lot a bit of a chance to rest, and to give guys that are hungry and have trained well a chance," he said.

"But a big focus this week is to follow up a good performance with one good performance after the other, so we won't make too many changes. Those guys who will given a chance are those have been strong in training and are ready for the battle."

Loose forward Siba Qoma also stressed the importance of backing up Saturday's derby victory over the Sharks in Durban with more solid performances.

"I think everyone is geared up to have the follow-up performance. It's very disappointing as an individual and a team when you don't back up what you've done because it almost sounds like a fluke and no one wants that, everyone wants to be consistent."

The flank feels one of the keys to achieving this consistency is the ability to finish off teams when they have the upper hand in matches. Saturday's match in the Shark Tank may be a case in point, with the visitors roaring into an early lead before being pegged back in the second stanza, needing a try in the dying seconds to sneak the win. 

"When you've got the hand on the throat, you've got to squeeze harder. That's the one thing we'd like to do," Qoma said. "I think we're very good at the kicking game and we back it up quite a lot – we've got explosive wingers who are good in the air – and our pack is setting the benchmark for physicality. That's one of the things we pride ourselves on."  

Good news for Lions fans is that star centre Henco van Wyk is close to returning from injury and could feature at Ellis Park on Saturday (5.15pm kickoff), according to Redelinghuys.