Lions coach hopes for mental shift: 'It's a challenge for us to play well against the SA teams'

Lions United Rugby Championship assistant coach Albert van den Berg said they need to find a way to get their mindsets right for South African derbies.

Having seen off all four of the European teams they faced at home in the URC, the Lions travel to Durban to face the Sharks on Saturday.

The Lions didn't have the best of outings in SA derbies since they beat the Stormers 37-19 in Cape Town at the end of last year.

They've fluffed their lines against all the SA teams at home, while also dropping points against the Bulls away.

The Lions' SA derby form is a concern for Van der Berg, who said they need to focus on themselves and not the opposition. "It's a challenge for us to play well against the South African teams. It's almost like there's a different mindset when we play the European teams," Van den Berg said.

"Players want to prove themselves against some of the internationals the European teams have, so it's like the level goes up for the players.

"When we come up against South African teams, it's all about us and not them, so we fall into the trap of focussing on them and not about us.

"Against the European teams, we focused on ourselves, so we need to do the same for the South African teams."

The Lions had no such trouble against the European teams when they saw off Cardiff, Ospreys, Munster, and Edinburgh on consecutive weekends.

Van der Berg, a former Springbok lock, put this down to unwavering playing and selection consistency.

"We got to the stage where we could pick the same team with only a few changes," Van den Berg said.

"When we played the South African teams, we went through a lot of injuries and the guys were in and out.

"The big thing for us is that we're just taking things from a game-by-game perspective, not