The Lions are in the rare position of launching an overseas tour with a full house of log points but are they fat track bullies at Ellis Park or genuine championship pretenders?
The Johannesburgers have been impressive in powering to bonus-point wins over Ulster and Edinburgh. Still, today, no altitude and searing heat will assist them when they tackle the Dragons at Rodney Parade.
Last week, against the same opponents, the Sharks inched over the line with the match's final play to thwart a home team that had led throughout.
All things considered, the Lions could not have asked for a softer start to their United Rugby Championship tour because the Welsh team are no great shakes and, next week, the Lions travel to perennial bottom-dwellers, Zebre, before ending their tour with a bang against Irish giants Leinster.
The Lions have an excellent opportunity to build momentum by beating two of the weaker teams in the URC before fronting up against Leinster in Dublin.
Assistant coach Barend Pieterse says the Lions are well-positioned.
“We are very happy with where we are as a group,” the one-cap Springbok lock said. “It can only be a nice feeling to go on tour with the maximum10 points in the bag.
“We must maintain the momentum as we truly believe we can become a championship team.
“This is a tour where we believe we can collect points to make it easier towards the end of the season so that we don’t have to rely on other teams to get us into a playoff position. We had that problem last season and don’t want to be in that situation again. We want to control our destiny.”
The weather prediction for Newport this afternoon is rain and cold, a far cry from the balmy conditions in Johannesburg over the last fortnight but Pieterse insists the Lions are a team for all seasons.
“If you look back at last season, there were games where the first half was sunny, and coming out for the second half it was raining and we had to adapt. So we will be ready for whatever happens,” Pieterse said.
“There is always wind in Newport whether it is sunny or rainy. We will be ready for whatever the weather is on the day.
“We have dangerous backs. So the forward pack needs to get them good ball. It doesn’t matter what the weather is, I don’t think we will change our game plan much because it has worked for us.”
Interestingly, former Junior Springbok scrumhalf Nico Steyn has been handed the Lions’ No 10 jersey.
The 22-year-old Steyn has played mainly at No 9 for the Lions but this week comes into the starting team in place of the injured Kade Wolhuter.
Coach Ivan van Rooyen has one of the most dangerous flyhalves in the country in Sanele Nohamba but Van Rooyen prefers to keep some of his best players on the bench in a variation of the Springbok Bomb Squad.
Nohamaba and former captain Marius Louw have been playing off the bench and have been devastating in the last 20 minutes.
Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Rabz Maxwane, 13 Erich Cronje, 12 Rynhardt Jonker, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Nico Steyn, 9 Morné van den Berg, 8 Francke Horn (captain), 7 Jarod Cairns, 6 JC Pretorius, 5 Darrien Landsberg, 4 Reinhard Nothnagel, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 Franco Marais, 1 Juan Schoeman.
Replacements: 16 PJ Botha, 17 Heiko Pohlmann, 18 Conraad van Vuuren, 19 Ruben Schoeman, 20 Renzo du Plessis, 21 Sanele Nohamba, 22 Marius Louw, 23 Henco van Wyk.