Lions brimming with confidence ahead of Mission Impossible in Ireland

Dublin has been the place where South African dreams go to die. Even the mighty Springboks have won just three times in Dublin in the last 26 years. The tale of the tape is even worse for South African franchises, with the Bulls being the only club to taste victory in the Irish capital.

But Lions arrive buoyant and motivated. Bouyant because they have reeled off a series of comprehensive victories; and motivated because they need two log points to seal their place in the URC playoffs for the first time in their history.

Added to that, Leinster are coming off a bruising Champions Cup semifinal win against Toulon and may well opt to rest some stars ahead of the Grand Final on 23 May.

All told, Saturday represents the Lions' best chance to claim a massive scalp and take their season to new heights.

"We've now had four or five unbelievable games at home," reflected Fourie.

"There's a lot of confidence, and that is stuff you need when you face Leinster at the Aviva Stadium.

"It's not only that. I also think we found our identity. We know how we want to play on Saturday, and we know what we need to do to beat Leinster.

"It's just about fine-tuning things at training and rocking up on Saturday and putting in a good performance.

Fourie credited the Lions' recent try-scoring efforts, 30 tries in six matches, with stoic defence.

"We are using our defence as a weapon to go and score tries," added the Springbok legend.

"The more we stay connected and the more we go up and put teams under pressure defensively, the more we are going to get the ball back.

"Even our loosies are absolutely dangerous with ball in hand, and we are going to punish teams.

"For us, it's all about putting teams under pressure and getting the ball back and then converting that pressure into points."

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