Lions Target Grand Urc Heist In Final Act And Bank On Ellis Park To Revive Top 8 Hopes

Forget Oceans 11 what the Lions need now is Franckes XV to put a crew together, plan plans within plans, burgle every point at every opportunity, and spring a surprise in the final act of the campaign, if they hope to break into the post-season of the United Rugby Championship URC in May.

Dwelling in 14th place in the URC standings on 30 points, and having returned from a tough tour of Britain that saw them lose three games on the trot, the Lions now find themselves living out a heist storyline for the remainder of the regular season. Four games lie ahead, all at Ellis Park and starting with Benetton on Saturday kick-off 1.45pm, followed by a Connacht clash a week later.

In mid-May, the final two rounds will see the Joburgers host Scarlets and Ospreys. All of these teams are within touching distance of the Lions on the log, waiting to be leapfrogged.

For the Lions to have any chance of progressing to the play-offs of the tournament, they will have to win all of those matches, and perhaps do so with a full bag of 20 points.

It calls for big moments and a near-perfect run-in to what has been a maddeningly inconsistent season, which has seen the team deliver both moments of brilliance and spells of mediocrity.