URC: Francke Horn's Lions hunt South African Shield in derby clash with Stormers

That has taken the Jo'Burg side within a point of the table-topping Sharks, as the battle for the domestic Shield reaches a crescendo. If the Lions can beat the Stormers at Ellis Park on Saturday, the silverware would then be theirs if the Sharks lose to the Bulls at Pretoria’s Loftus Versfeld later in the afternoon.

So these are exciting times for Ivan van Rooyen’s team. They have come so close to trophy triumphs in recent times, losing successive Carling Currie Cup finals to last-gasp kicks. Could this now be their time?

“Let’s be honest, we haven’t won a lot of silverware in the last three or four years,” said head coach Van Rooyen. “So it’s really nice for us to have this opportunity.”

But he knows it won’t be easy against a Stormers side who will be smarting from back-to-back defeats against the Sharks. “They didn’t get the wins there, after playing the Sharks twice,” he said.

“We know how proud they are, we know the quality they have. If you are not going to be 110 per cent ready for the Stormers, then they can absolutely tear you apart. So we know that we need to be good.”

Giving his thoughts on this weekend’s clash, skipper Francke Horn said: “It’s a derby, it’s a Shield on the line. “I don’t think there’s one player that won’t be excited. But with that excitement must come accuracy. We must be clinical and play in the system.”

The Lions’ four-try win over the Sharks saw them bounce back from a thumping 52-17 defeat at home to the Bulls in their previous league outing three weeks ago. “We are all proud men in the changing rooms and the performance we gave against the Bulls wasn’t up to our standard,” admitted No 8 Horn. "It was quite tough to take. That’s not what we want to stand for. We want to stand for a team that has energy, that has hunger and plays a good brand of rugby.

“I think we showed that against the Sharks. There was a lot more maturity and calmness among the guys. We were playing rugby in the right areas of the field. It was an area of growth for us in terms of not getting tunnel vision 30 minutes in and realising there was another 50 minutes left. I was proud of how the boys reacted on that.

“We stayed calm and made plans. As soon as they got points, we got points immediately back.”

Van Rooyen was equally delighted with the response from his players as they secured a victory which has taken them up to seventh in the overall BKT URC table.

“We were clearly bitterly disappointed after the Bulls performance,” he admitted. "We perceived like we were getting hammered from the beginning of that game. So it was a good response from us against the Sharks. There were some good solutions. To walk away with five points, I was really proud and really happy. I feel mentally we did grow a little bit these past few weeks.

“With the Sharks’ defence and their aggression, if you don’t get one or two things right against them, it can really put you under pressure. If you look at their two previous matches, their kicking game really suffocated the Stormers and their set-piece really did well. So I was proud of our reaction, proud of our plans.

“It was about staying in the moment and staying focused. It was about backing ourselves enough to create opportunities against a really good Sharks defence and then having the patience to execute them.”

1. Despite his relatively young age, Horn has already made 80+ senior appearances for the Lions since debuting in 2020, becoming a regular starter in the forward pack.

2. Horn captains the Lions and has extended his contract with the franchise through to 2028, signalling his long-term importance to the club’s plans.