Jan-Hendrik Wessels of the Bulls offloads to Marco van Staden as he is tackled by the Lions’ Marius Louw in their United Rugby Championship at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday. Photo: BackpagePix
The Lions and Bulls will host the final double header of local derbies on Saturday afternoon in Gauteng as the race to claim the South African Shield in the United Rugby Championship (URC) heats up.
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After disappointing in their Jukskei derby loss, the Johannesburg side find themselves under pressure and fighting to stay in contention in the competition.
Ellis Park should be a welcome sight for the Lions this weekend, but after losing that winning momentum and knowing the exploits the Sharks pulled off after their last visit to Gauteng, the home side will be wary.
The two teams will meet in back-to-back clashes over the following couple of weeks, with the return game scheduled for next Saturday at Kings Park Stadium in Durban.
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So, there will be no time for the Lions to dwell on what went wrong against the Bulls. They'll have to find a solution quickly for their inconsistent run of form. Apart from four good wins at the start of the URC, they haven't been able to string together two winning performances in a row. They need to start doing that to have any chance of qualifying for the top eight.
The Sharks will smell blood, and as they gear up to restart their bid for a home play-off after a week's break, they'll also have one eye on catching up with the third-placed Bulls on the URC log.
In fourth currently, the two local derbies against the Lions could provide a good springboard for the coastal side to get closer to a home play-off.
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The rampaging Bulls scrum will lie in wait to put one over the Stormers again like they did in Cape Town a couple of weeks ago. That was a brilliant power display, and after punishing the Sharks and Lions in this facet of the game, there is no denying their dominance.
How the Stormers deal with that could determine how the game goes.
Fast starts have been the bread and butter for the Bulls and director of rugby Jake White will expect nothing less on Saturday as they aim to stay atop the SA Shield.
While the Stormers could recuperate after a string of losses in the tournament, they must find a counter for the set piece of their hosts.
Failing to do so will put them on the back foot and although they fought with valour to almost clinch a win in Cape Town, the Bulls won't allow the same to happen at Fort Loftus on Saturday.