With Leinster battered and bruised following their mauling at the hands of Bordeaux-Bègles in Saturday’s Champions Cup final, the Lions are preparing an ambush in Dublin, primed to pounce on Leo Cullen’s wounded side. Meanwhile, over here in Pretoria, the Bulls are snorting and stamping in anticipation of their URC quarter-final duel with Munster.The Lions elected to remain in Ireland, basing themselves in Dublin following their 31-7 loss to Leinster three weeks ago. The scoreline was perhaps not an accurate reflection of the fight the relatively young and inexperienced Lions put up to the nine-time champions. With only 10 minutes left, they were 14-7 down, and had it not been for a couple of dubious first-half calls the score might have looked different.Midway through the opening spell, with Leinster leading 7-0, the Lions’ tearaway flanker, Siba Mahashe, latched on to a loose ball and raced from 40 metres, past Ciarán Frawley and Sam Prendergast to dot down. However, the officials had another look and concluded that Lions winger Erich Cronjé had been offside at the preceding ruck. Immediately after, Leinster tighthead Thomas Clarkson drove for the line and was awarded a try, despite it appearing on the replay that he might have been just short. It meant a 14-point turnaround from which the Lions never recovered, and the floodgates opened at the death with the home side recording three soft tries in the last 10 minutes.The Lions would have taken the lessons from Aviva Stadium to heart, and will have closely studied the Bordeaux blueprint from Bilbao. This week, the Lions alluded to Bordeaux’s ruthless ability to turn the slightest opportunity into points, adding it was the French side’s suffocating defence that ultimately squeezed the life out of Leinster. Both in attack and defence, as well as at scrum time, the Lions will be intent on getting the same level of go-forward.The Lions achieved this throughout much of the stellar season they have enjoyed so far, particularly in their 54-12 annihilation of Glasgow Warriors in Johannesburg in April. The tempo and speed with which they took the ball up left the Scots buckling under the pressure, but it was the width of their defensive line that enabled the hosts to get their attack going, racking up eight tries.Munster's Alex Kendellen tackles Marcell Coetzee of the Bulls when the sides met in Pretoria in March. Photograph: Christiaan Kotze/Steve Haag Sports/Inpho The Lions scoring the third most tries in the league (73), after the Bulls (82) and Leinster (77), and the second most points (532), after the Bulls (566), an astonishing return considering head coach Ivan van Rooyen was facing the axe a year ago. His side have achieved their first top-eight finish with the least number of professional players and Springboks (four) of all the South African franchises. But of their four Boks, Morné van den Berg, Ruan Venter (both injured) and Asenathi Ntlabakanye (suspended) are unavailable this week, leaving fullback Quan Horn as the only international in the line-up to face Leinster.In nature, Lions hunt in groups, harnessing teamwork to take down prey. In rugby, they will no doubt rely heavily on teamwork to try and beat Leinster for the first time in Dublin. Meanwhile at Loftus Versfeld, the Bulls host Munster courtesy of their a top-four finish from the league stages. With former Springbok lock Johan Ackermann having taken over the coaching reins from Jake White at the start of the season, the Bulls suffered five losses in their first eight games. Ackermann managed to steady the ship and last year’s beaten finalists won their last six outings on the trot. But the former Bok bruiser will not allow his charges to rest on their laurels, especially since their previous encounter with Munster in Pretoria in March saw the Bulls just about scrape through, 34-31. Akermann believes his side are still putting themselves under unnecessary pressure through mental lapses and unforced errors, so the focus at Loftus Versfeld will be on finishing, decision-making, and improving their attacking accuracy.“That’s the part we have to fix because once there is more pressure on, in a knockout match, it becomes difficult to recover momentum,” said Ackermann. “You must ensure you execute. It’s all about execution.”At altitude, the Bulls are favourites, as are the Stormers against Cardiff in Cape Town. If the Lions do manage to defy the odds in Dublin, South Africa could end up with three sides in this year’s semi-finals, making for the very real prospect of an all-South African final. Such a scenario would no doubt present quite an argument for South Africa’s continued participation in the Champions Cup, wouldn’t it?If the local sides can sort out the logistics around player welfare and travel, and take their Champions Cup approach to the Springbok-level, South Africa may yet be the best bet to end France’s reign in Europe.