A chance to make history is motivating the NSW Waratahs, with coach Daryl Gibson seeing Saturday's Super Rugby semi-final as a reward for turning around after last season's disastrous campaign.
Gibson says no-one is giving his side much chance against the Lions in Johannesburg, but last week's comeback win against the Highlanders has infused them with belief.
The Waratahs have lost all five of their Super Rugby playoff matches outside Australia going into the Ellis Park clash.
"For us that's a real incentive and a goal, and a consequence that can happen if we plan well," Gibson said.
"The side is full of belief at the moment, we've come off a real emotional high from last Saturday.
"We've been under the radar all year and we've been a team that's improved all year.
'We've really earnt our way to this semi final."
Making the last four represents a significant improvement on 2017, when NSW finished 16th of 18 on the overall ladder.
"I think the biggest challenge of my career was last season, coming out of that season with only four wins in a season that certainly should have promised a lot more," he said.
'It's been a really long turnaround in terms of we started nearly a year ago, August 5 2017, and this team has been working towards these moments
"I see this as a reward, for all the effort that's gone in from all our team, our staff and what we've been all working towards."
Gibson compared the influence of Lions and Springboks hooker Malcolm Marx at the breakdown to that off Wallabies superstar David Pocock.
"He's Pocock-esque really and we saw what Pocock did to us a couple of weeks ago," Gibson said.
"It's something we talked about as a team and that we're going to have to be very good at our attacking breakdown, making sure that there's no daylight there for Malcolm Marx to get into.
