Young blood ensures future for the Lions in fine health
HEYNEKE Meyer’s Blue Bulls were the first to exploit the Currie Cup to blood quality depth for Super Rugby but the mace, which has been passed onto the Sharks and Western Province, has made its way to Golden Lions coach Johan Ackermann.
Not only is Ackermann in charge of a rampant Lions side in this year’s domestic competition but he’s dug up a steady stream of youngsters that will come in very handy in next year’s expanded Super Rugby competition.
Flanker Stephan de Witt, loosehead Dylan Smith, hooker Malcolm Marx and lock Lourens Erasmus were all cutting their teeth in junior and Vodacom Cup rugby last year.
Tomorrow they will all start against Western Province at Ellis Park. The game could prove purely academic if the Lions secure top spot and a home semifinal but that they are fast catching up with WP when it comes to unearthing talent cannot be understated.
“The positive is not just the Currie Cup performance but that we have unearthed players that can challenge for Super Rugby places next year,” Ackermann enthused.
“We’ve increased our depth in a number of positions. We have a mix of new players but they are adapting quickly to the way we want to play and the structures and have shown a lot of potential.
“The senior players that stayed behind after Super Rugby – Jaco Kriel, Julian Redelinghuys and Robbie Coetzee, Martin Muller and M B Lusaseni – have embraced the young players. And the young players have stepped up to the level we felt needed to reach in order to play in the Currie Cup.”
Each week Ackermann rotates players and each week the expectation is that their first defeat is 80 minutes away but this avalanche refuses to relent. After eight rounds they are still untouchable.
Their 73-31 mauling of the Free State Cheetahs last weekend, which came on the back of stellar wins over the Bulls and Sharks in weeks prior, was frighteningly dominant.
Whereas in the past their Super Rugby depth resembled snowmen under the sun, next year they might retain some bite should anything happen to fulcrums Warren Whiteley, Jaco Kriel and Franco Mostert.
“It is a big responsibility on the individual to take the opportunity when it comes to them,” said Ackermann.
“An example is Fabian Booysen. As we all know a number of guys left after Super Rugby – Derick [Minnie] was out for the season, Warwick [Tecklenburg] went to Japan – and we felt we were short of a few numbers in our loose-forward department.
“Fabian was not in our original plans following his last game for us in the Vodacom Cup but we invited him back and in the four-week pre-season he grabbed the opportunity. He trained exceptionally hard, he did technically correct things and trained himself into the team. Credit must also go to Lourens Erasmus and Dylan Smith for taking their chances but also to Russell Winter’s U21 structures that developed Malcolm Marx and Jaco van der Walt.”