Lions 'not blind to reality'

The Lions, while believing they could record back-to-back Super Rugby victories on New Zealand soil for the first time, are not blind to reality.

The star-studded Crusaders, despite an underwhelming start to their season, will be a far tougher challenge than the bumbling Blues were last week.

Lions coach Johan Ackermann, speaking in a teleconference call from New Zealand, said last week's 13-10 win over the Blues in Albany was a first-ever win overseas for a number of the players in his team.

"It would have given them a lot of confidence and belief that we can compete and win here [in New Zealand]," the coach said.

"That said, we realise there is a lot of work to be done still and our next opposition [the Crusaders] is one of the top teams in the competition, regardless of their results in recent weeks."

After a 10-20 upset loss at the hands of the Rebels in Week One, the Crusaders edged the Highlanders 26-20 a week later, before a demoralising 16-40 loss to the New Zealand conference leaders, the Chiefs.

That was followed by a bye last week and the return of several key All Blacks this week.

Ackermann said while the team enjoyed last week's win over the Blues, only the Lions' second-ever win on New Zealand soil, it is going to be much tougher playing the Crusaders.

"They are obviously not happy with their performances and I see they have rushed back a number of their All Blacks,"the coach said, adding: "We realise we have to focus and reset out minds for the next challenge."

He said, despite the early season losses, the Crusaders remain a quality side.

"It was always going to take time before they hit their straps. People were critical of their performances, but the fact that their All Black were not allowed to train with the team for most of January always meant they were going to take a bit longer to get going."

With some All Blacks having had virtually no game time, Ackermann said that could leave an opening for his team.

"We are well aware of the quality of those players and we know there is a huge challenge awaiting us. We expect them to produce a massive turnaround in form and we will be up for a massive challenge.

"However, as we did against the Blues [last week] we must ensure that at half-time we are still in the game, because then that lack of game time might become a factor."

He also felt the pressure will be on the Crusaders to win, as they are the home team and have all the star players in their team.

"Our guys are excited about the challenge," Ackermann said, adding: "We must go out and again perform with heart and soul as we did against the Blues."

He said they are not blind to the mistakes they made against the Blues.

"We know there were a lot of aspects of our game that was not up to standard.

"For a change we got the bounce of the ball and the guys showed a lot of character on defence.

"If we can improve in some of those aspects of our game there is no reason why we can't win there.

"We believe we can beat any team on the day and we can win if we all buy into the game plan and execute 100 percent. We know that in this competition if we are just slightly off our game we will be in trouble.

"That is why will have to show the same attitude and fight against a very good Crusaders team."

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