Lions wait on Mapoe’s fitness
LIONS boss Johan Ackermann has given star centre Lionel Mapoe until today to prove his fitness before Saturday’s big Super Rugby showdown with the Sharks at Ellis Park.
Mapoe injured his hand against the Reds almost two weeks and missed last Saturday’s clash against the Kings in Port Elizabeth, but he trained with his team-mates this week. Ackermann will decide today whether he is fit enough to take on the men from Durban.
If he doesn’t play then Harold Vorster will again don the No 13 jersey.
Ackermann has also bracketed players in two other positions on his bench – namely at tighthead and loosehead prop, with there being uncertainty over the fitness of Johannes Jonker and Sti Sithole.
The Lions go into the clash on Saturday on the back of a big, if not convincing, win against the Kings, while the Sharks were impressive in downing the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein.
It’s been 12 games and nearly a year since the Lions were beaten at home. That’s the magnitude of the task awaiting the Sharks when they visit Ellis Park on Saturday.
The last time the Lions lost at Ellis Park was on April 30, against the Hurricanes, a 7-50 defeat, the same team Ackermann’s men would lose against in the final a few months later, but on that occasion the match was in Wellington.
Since that day the Lions registered big high-scoring wins against the Blues (43 points and seven tries), Jaguares (52 and eight tries), Sharks (37 and two tries), Kings (57 and eight tries), Crusaders (42 and five tries) and Highlanders (42 and five tries) last season and this year against the Waratahs (55 and eight tries) and Reds (44 and seven tries). It has been a dominant display at home by Ackermann’s men.
Add to the above-mentioned victories the four Currie Cup home wins in the latter stages of last year, against the Pumas (68 points and 10 tries), the Cavaliers (60 points and nine tries), the Western Province (58 points and eight tries) and the Sharks (28 points and three tries) and you realise coming to Ellis Park and winning doesn’t happen easily.
In their last eight home Super Rugby games the Lions have scored a whopping 53 tries.
The only positive the Sharks, under new coach Robert du Preez, will take from the above record is that it has been them – and not the highly fancied Crusaders or Highlanders – who’ve performed best in the last 12 months at Ellis Park.
In last year’s Super Rugby clash they conceded only 37 points – the best of everyone who visited the ground since April 30, while in the Currie Cup clash between the teams, albeit very different teams, they allowed the Lions to score only 28 points, and three tries.
But while home ground advantage will certainly prove an ally for the Lions, there’s not all that much separating the teams in terms of how they’ve performed this season, which should make for another fascinating clash between them on Saturday.
Both teams have played five matches this season, won four and lost one, with the Lions having scored 28 tries to the Sharks’ 13. Defensively, Ackermann’s men have let in 15 and the Sharks 14, proof yet again that the Joburg team are the more try-hungry of the sides, but the Sharks are more stingy when it comes to letting in tries.
A look at the key statistics (as shown here) so far shows there’s not much to choose between the teams before Saturday’s match (5.15pm), but then that was also the case last season. And talk about a match that pits some of the biggest and brightest young talents against each other – think Elton Jantjies against Curwin Bosch, Michael Tambwe against Lwazi Mvovo, Ruan Ackermann against Jean-Luc du Preez and Malcolm Marx against Chiliboy Ralepelle ... we’re in for a cracker of a game.