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- Lions midfielder and captain Marius Louw hopes Ellis Park's altitude fear factor will intimidate Leinster on Saturday.
- Leinster will be playing their first game at altitude, having played both their South African games at sea level last season.
- The Lions will also be without Ruan Venter and Emmanuel Tshituka from a physical perspective.
Lions captain Marius Louw hopes Ellis Park's altitude fear factor will play on Leinster's mind ahead of Saturday afternoon's United Rugby Championship clash.
Leinster will be playing in South Africa for a second time, but last season's visits to the Sharks and Stormers were coastal affairs.
Saturday's meeting with the Lions, and next week's fixture against the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld, will be their first experience of the lung-burning Highveld.
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What could be a significant crumb of comfort for the deliberately understrength visitors, who are unchallenged at the top of the URC log and still have Champions Cup semi-final commitments to consider, is that Ireland's lesser lights in Connacht and Ulster have collected wins at Ellis Park. Munster is the only losing Irish team in Doornfontein.
Louw, who, before converting to playing at centre for the Sharks, was reared on Highveld rugby as a rampaging blindside loose forward when he captained Bloemfontein's Grey College, said playing at altitude remains a formidable prospect, even for South African players.
"When I was at the Sharks, I played at Ellis Park multiple times and I never got used to it," Louw said.
"Travelling here for away teams is definitely something we look at, but they are a very professional team and they pride themselves on work rate.
"It's not like they will ever give up, but we do want to play the altitude factor into our favour, but they haven't been here, and we want to throw as many punches as we can."
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The Lions will also have to plot their Leinster trap without the bruising physical elements of Ruan Venter (injury) and Emmanuel Tshituka (suspension).
That robs Lions scrum coach Julian Redelinghuys of two critical components that are vital to quelling whatever threats could be posed by Leinster.
However, Redelinghuys said that where there is a gap in the absences left by the two forwards, an opportunity has arisen for some new players to shine in their place.
"The effect of losing quality players will always be felt, but what is exciting to see are the guys stepping in," Redelinghuys said.
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"The thing about rugby is that no player stays on the field forever and it's applicable to the players who are off the field.
"It's very good to see players slot in and step up when they come in for injured or missing players. We always miss the players who aren't available because each player brings his own personal circus act to the team.
"We use that as best as we can to make the team better and we use the next player to bring in their attributes to better the team."
In Saturday's URC double header at Ellis Park, the Bulls play Zebre at 13:00 before the Lions and Leinster kick off at 16:00.
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