The Lions deny they are merely Super 14 spoilers who are only motivated to beat the Waratahs in Sydney tonight by the prospect of boosting the finals hopes of their fellow South Africans, the Stormers and Sharks.

The Johannesburg team sit in last place on the competition table and are no chance of winning a semi-finals spot, however, over the last five rounds they can still influence the make-up of the last four.

After playing NSW (4th place) tonight (kick off 5.30pm), the Lions face the Brumbies (9th) and the Hurricanes (3rd) away, and the Chiefs (8th) and Stormers (7th) at home.

Lions coach Eugene Eloff rejected the notion that his side was playing for a South African presence in the finals. "We don't think about [the result's] permutations. We think about what we can do to win the game," Eloff said on the www.keo.co.za website.

"At the end of the day, every coach will do his best to win and you can't try to help other teams - that can be unethical. We would love to beat sides to help the Stormers and Sharks but we want to win for ourselves."

Regardless of the result of tonight's match, the Sharks should maintain second place, even if they lose to the Brumbies in Canberra tonight. But if the Lions beat the Waratahs and the Stormers prevail over the Hurricanes in Cape Town tomorrow morning, NSW could drop out of the top four (depending on bonus points accrued in those matches).

Should that occur, Eloff's charges will emerge as the type of threat he says they are not - spoilers.

At the very least - and taking the result of last night's clash between the Reds and Force in Brisbane into account - a NSW defeat would make the annual bottleneck at the top of the Super 14 table even tighter.

Which is why the Waratahs are so alert to the danger, especially with a tough road trip to end their regular season. After playing the Sharks at home next week, NSW fly to South Africa to face the Bulls in Pretoria and the Stormers in Cape Town, before their final-round showdown with traditional rivals the Reds in Brisbane.

"We are in the four now. We definitely want to make sure [we win] against the Lions and Sharks, [so] we will set ourselves up for the last three games," Waratahs forwards coach Steve Tuynman said.

If the Waratahs need reminding of the threat posed by seemingly also-ran sides, they need only reflect on their home clash against the Cheetahs three weeks ago.

The Cheetahs arrived in Sydney with six losses from six games, and were destined for a hiding at half-time when they went to the sheds 20-7 down. But after a defiant second half, they lost by only four points, 23-19.

Tuynman cites the Cheetahs' second-half comeback as "a good example" of what danger the Lions can pose tonight.

"We started off well and then they came into the game and had an opportunity to win the game. And everyone back then was saying the Cheetahs haven't won a game. It is something our guys are well away of," Tuynman said.

The Lions, who have a strong pack and speed out wide, have also hardly proven to be easy-beats this year. Against the Crusaders, they led 6-3 at half-time before the score blew out to 31-6.

They defeated the Cheetahs in the opening round, and all but one of their six losses since were narrow defeats: 16-18 to the Force, 17-31 to the Bulls, 8-16 to the Sharks and 20-29 to the Highlanders in Dunedin. They also drew 24-24 with the Reds.

With rain threatening to make tonight's clash a less expansive affair, NSW are expecting more of the same resilience from the Lions, especially in the forwards.

The Lions have made five changes to their line-up from last week's clash in Christchurch, with outside centre Jaco Pretorius, halfback Jano Vermaak and hooker Willie Wepener all returning from being rested. Tighthead prop JC van Rensburg moves to the starting side after a strong showing off the bench against the Crusaders, and second-rower Dewald Senekal replaces the injured Anton van Zyl.

The Waratahs, who have named an unchanged side from last week, have taken note of the tweaking of the Lions side. "They rested a few players last week. I sense their focus is on this game compared to the Crusaders. And they were in the game for the first 40 minutes," Tuynman said.

"They are a side that will use the width of the field. They are also a side that will play up the guts physically.

"People are saying it is a game we will win easily, but this is a game [in which] we have to perform."