Durban - Springbok legend Jaque Fourie says the Lions are not going to Glasgow simply to make up the numbers in the Challenge Cup quarter-finals, but to kick on from their excellent win over Racing 92 at the weekend.
Defence coach Fourie was in a buoyant mood yesterday when he spoke to the media following his team’s phenomenal 51-28 defeat of the top French side – plus they had to do it with 14 players for three-quarters of the match.
In-form flank Emmanuel Tshituka was red-carded after just 18 minutes, and has subsequently been suspended for three weeks.
As well as the Lions played, this week’s opponents, Glasgow Warriors, are on a hot streak and last week smashed the Dragons 73-33.
The last time the Lions played Glasgow was in the United Rugby Championship in February, which was the game that had been postponed in October last year because the Scots got sick in Durban.
The Lions won that game 35-24 in what has proved to be a watershed for their season.
“That helped us in a positive way,” Fourie said. “We rallied together and decided to start performing. The week before we played Glasgow, we decided to take off the shackles and had nothing to lose.
“It was a tough game against Racing, so the first thing is to get the players physically ready for Glasgow.
“We aren’t going there just to compete, we want to win. We have two games left in the URC, and we want to finish on a high. So, our focus is to win against Glasgow.”
Glasgow have found rich form under former Cheetahs coach Franco Smith, and Fourie knows him only too well from their playing days, as Smith is a former Bok centre.
“We will keep up what we have been doing … we just want to do it better,” Fourie said. “We know Franco will come with trick plays. We need the discipline to stay within our structure.
“If we do that and we force turnovers, they will rethink their strategy, and that will play into our hands. But we need to stop them and force errors – then we will be in for a shout.”
Regarding the loss of Tshituka, Fourie said: “Manu has been playing well. To lose a guy like that is massive.
“Jaco (Kriel) is coming along quite well ... With Manu banned, there is an opportunity. He (Kriel) has been training well and is looking good for the weekend.”
IOL Sport