adminJOHANNESBURG . — Lions coach Johan Ackermann believes his side will have to “fight to the end” if they are to lift this year’s Super Rugby title. Ackermann’s side face off with seven-time champions the Crusaders on Saturday in the final of the tournament and will face a real challenge against the other form team of the competition. The Lions coach, who is also in his last game at the union, believes his team will face a totally new challenge, and won’t be able to rely on the knowledge from their two clashes in 2016 when it comes this weekend.
Still, Ackermann forsees a massive battle ahead with the best New Zealand side in the competition.
“Like I said in the week regarding us and the Hurricanes, both sides have changed, both sides have probably developed a little more in certain areas.
“They are definitely a quality side, they have shown it this whole season and their background and history is all quality,” Ackermann said.
“It will boil down to 80 minutes. Again to go back to last year and to refer back to anything will not help us. We have to reset, we haven’t achieved anything yet, we haven’t got a trophy or anything. The challenge for us now is to train well, to obviously enjoy the victory but to start again, reset and know that here is a side that will also fight until the end, who also wants the title.”
Ackermann acknowledged that the earlier start helped them against the Hurricanes and this week’s 4pm kickoff might take that edge off the altitude a bit.
Still, he knows that his team can’t afford a start like they had against the Hurricanes and will need to adapt quicker if they are to meet the expectations of the capacity 62 000 crowd on the day. — Supersport.
Online Reporter