Lions loom large in home straight

CURRIE CUP: JOBURG’S PRIDE HAVE BECOME DARK HORSE

Nine Super Rugby final starters in line to run out in semifinal against Province at Newlands.

If Cheetahs coach Rory Duncan is to believed, almost overnight the Springbok-bolstered Golden Lions side have emerged as one of the dark outsiders in the Currie Cup competition.

While the coastal and hosting sides the Sharks and Western Province are viewed as the favourites to win their respective semifinals against the Blue Bulls and the Lions this weekend, the Lions shouldn’t be discounted.

“If the Lions play like they did against us they will be a very difficult side to stop. They were very deserved winners on the day and just came out being the more hungry side while a few soft tries cost us dearly in the end,” said Duncan of his side’s 44-17 defeat.

As many of nine of the Lions players who started the Super Rugby final in August against the Crusaders at Ellis Park are in line to start the semifinal against Western Province at Newlands.

With hooker Malcolm Marx expected to be promoted from the bench and prop Ruan Dreyer to return from his rib injury last week, it could prove to be the strongest Lions Currie Cup lineup of the season.

The six players missing are wing Ruan Combrinck, centre Lionel Mapoe, flyhalf Elton Jantjies, lock Franco Mostert, flank Jaco Kriel and No 8 Ruan Ackermann.

Combrinck and Kriel are currently injured while playing in Japan, while Mapoe, Jantjies and Mostert are playing in Japan and Ackermann joined his dad Johan’s Gloucester club in England.

Centre Rohan Janse van Rensburg was on the bench for the final along with flank Cyle Brink but both are certaintees for inclusion in the starting this week.

Other players on the bench in the final – scrumhalf Faf de Klerk (Sale Sharks) and hooker Akker van der Merwe (Sharks) have left the union, while lock Lourens Erasmus (Japan), prop Corne Fourie are on the injured list and wing Sylvian Mahuza could earn a bench place this weekend.

Meanwhile, scrumhalf Rudy Paige has been linked with a return to the Lions after he left them for the Bulls in 2012.

If the Lions play like they did against us they will be a very difficult side to stop.

Rory Duncan Cheetahs coach