Rugby: province to focus on themselves

THE GOLDEN LIONS sure have the ability to create good opportunities, but Western Province won’t be focusing on their opposition too much ahead of this weekend’s clash in Johannesburg.

And if their first two Currie Cup games are anything to go by, then they should just keep focusing on themselves. Province will take on the log-leading Lions – who have secured bonus-point victories in all three of their games so far – at Ellis Park on Saturday (3pm kickoff).

WP will face the Lions after coming off a bye and two stunning victories against the Free State Cheetahs at Newlands and Pumas in Nelspruit.

But given the rather tough history WP have at Ellis Park, assistant coach Dawie Snyman knows this game will be a challenging one.

“The Lions are a dangerous team when they play at home, we’ve seen it in Super Rugby and (the) Currie Cup,” Snyman said.

“They’re good when it comes to keeping ball in hand and they can create good opportunities. But we want to focus on what we can do as a team.”

Snyman also said that they don’t have any new injury concerns as they prepare for the away match, with the only worry being tighthead prop Neethling Fouche, who saw a doctor yesterday.

Another person in the WP set up who is expecting an exciting display of rugby on Saturday is SP Marais.

Marais – who has mostly started at fullback for WP and the Stormers – also said that their training with Snyman makes a lot of their on-field productions easier to execute.

“They’re (the Lions) a young team, they’re not scared to try anything, they play with a lot of confidence and at Ellis Park things just seem to work for them,” Marais said.

“The guys of course want to show the coaches they belong in the Super Rugby team. Coach Dawie encourages us to think like coaches do. He encourages us to play the situation.”

“We try and create situations in training that you’ll encounter in a game, so it really helps.”