All eyes on new Lions star Ashlon
FLYHALF: EXCITING DAVIDS LIKENED TO BOK JANTJIES
Coach De Bruin looking for a vast improvement from Joburg’s Pride against Griquas in Kimberley tonight.
The Golden Lions might have unearthed an uncut diamond in young flyhalf Ashlon Davids, even though there still might be a fair amount of roughness around the edges.
With his next test waiting against Griquas in Kimberley tonight, the 24-year-old Davids has long had to play in the shadows of the likes of Elton Jantjies, Marnitz Boshoff and Jaco van der Walt.
But with Jantjies now with the Springboks, Boshoff across the Jukskei and Van der Walt settling in the No 15 jersey, Davids has at last seen regular game time in the No 10 jersey in the Currie Cup.
Lions coach Swys de Bruin has likened Davids’ skills set to that of Jantjies and Davids is just feeling blessed about the opportunities finally coming his way.
“I appreciate the opportunity and obviously very happy that coach Swys backs me,” said Davids after producing a Man-of-theMatch performance in the narrow 29-28 win over the Pumas at Ellis Park last weekend.
Davids was in dazzling form, playing a hand in several of the Lions’ five tries, even though he surprisingly missed three of the five conversions on a rare off-day with the boot for this normally reliable goal-kicker.
“It was a tough one – it’s always tough when you play the Pumas, regardless whether it’s away or home,” said Davids.
“I am just glad the boys pulled it through on the weekend.”
But De Bruin said they will have to lift their tempo tonight if they want to get the result against Griquas in Kimberley.
“At times the tempo of the game against the Pumas last weekend gave me the impression that I was watching club rugby,” he said.
“Every scrum took ages, then there was a mistake, then there was a reset. We want to play tempo rugby so that’s something that we’ll have to rectify.”
Kick-off: 7.15pm
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