The Lions have named an unchanged lineup for Saturday’s final against the Crusaders at Ellis Park.

For the fourth week in a row, coach Johan Ackermann has been able to stick with a winning side, with such continuity sure to be of benefit to the Lions in the title decider.

The hosts will be looking to pick up where they off last weekend, with a resurgent second-half performance from the Lions having enabled them to ultimately overturn a 19-point deficit.

Ackermann said they knew they couldn’t afford to allow the Crusaders to open up such an advantage this time around.

‘The Crusaders have had an extremely good season, they are a very experienced side and they did really well without the ball against Chiefs,’ Ackermann told New Zealand’s Radio Sport. ‘We will be in big trouble if we concede such an advantage to the Crusaders like we did last weekend [against the Hurricanes].

‘We will definitely have to be better defensively, the first two tries were given away when we lost the ball, while the third try was far too easy. We have spent time looking at that because finals can be decided on those moments. The Crusaders are a team that will put you away, while they are also capable of fighting back.’

SUPERBRU: Lions to clinch title

Lions – 15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Ruan Combrinck, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Ross Cronjé, 8 Ruan Ackermann, 7 Kwagga Smith, 6 Jaco Kriel (c), 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Andries Ferreira, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Jacques van Rooyen.
Subs: 16 Akker van der Merwe, 17 Corné Fourie, 18 Johannes Jonker, 19 Lourens Erasmus, 20 Cyle Brink, 21 Faf de Klerk, 22 Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 23 Sylvian Mahuza.

Photo: EPA/Ryan Willkisky