Lions boosted for Sharks clash
DE BRUIN SAYS HIS TEAM CAN’T SLIP NOW
Close to hitting the home straight, the Lions can ill-afford another slip-up leading up to the Super Rugby play-offs, said coach Swys de Bruin yesterday.
De Bruin included 12 Springboks in his starting line-up for the clash with the Sharks in Durban tomorrow, the biggest boost being the return of stars like skipper Warren Whiteley and hooker Malcolm Marx.
“We face a massive challenge, but it’s exciting. We saw the vibe this week with the guys. We are blessed the whole bunch is back, a good feeling,” said De Bruin.
“We said from the beginning, every game on it’s own merit, but now it’s counting. We can’t slip now. We dropped a few hurdles but we are now catching that last turn,” he said. “The only permutation left is to keep winning.”
De Bruin said Whiteley’s return had lifted the team tremendously, adding the value of stand-in captain Franco Mostert couldn’t be downplayed.
“Warren is one of a kind, such an instrumental guy wherever he goes. You just sit and talk to him and you get inspired,” he said. “But we spent a lot of time developing the leaders in our system. A guy from England visited us and couldn’t believe what kind of authority our senior players have.”
De Bruin said the time he spent with the Boks as attacking consultant won’t give him an added insight into the Sharks players’ mindset.
“They know me, too, but at the Boks we only focused on the national team. I coached the Du Preez brothers (Jean-Luc and Dan) at Kearsney and at the Sharks Academy,” he said. “I worked with a lot of them, I know Akker (van der Merwe). It’s a small rugby world.”
Lions conditioning coach Ivan van Rooyen, who took charge while De Bruin was with the Boks, said it was maybe a blessing that the team had less Boks this year.
“In the past there were 10 or 12 involved with the SA A team, but this year we had the greater part of the squad to work on.”
Lions
Andries Coetzee, Ruan Combrinck, Lionel Mapoe, Harold Vorster, Aphiwe Dyantyi, Elton Jantjies, Ross Cronje, Warren Whiteley (capt), Cyle Brink, Kwagga Smith, Franco Mostert, Marvin Orie, Ruan Dreyer, Malcolm Marx, Dylan Smith. Bench: Corne Fourie, Jacques van Rooyen, Johannes Jonker, Lourens Erasmus, Hacjivah Dayimani, Marnus Schoeman, Nic Groom, Courtnall Skosan.