PREDATORS:
There is never, ever any love lost in a local derby. But tomorrow’s Lions-Sharks clash at Ellis Park will have even more bite than usual because it’s Super Rugby quarter-final time. says the Lions will win. says the Sharks will win. Here’s why … Lions wil
Since April 30 last year when they lost 50-17 to the Hurricanes at Emirates Airline Park, the Lions have not lost in Super Rugby on home soil in 13 matches. Among the teams they have beaten in front of their own fans in this time are the Crusaders and Highlanders, in the quarters and semis last season respectively, the Waratahs and Bulls and the Sharks, twice. Their average score in those 13 wins is 48-19. Only one team has scored more five-pointers than the Lions this season – the Hurricanes, who are the defending champions. They’ve dotted down 89 times; the Lions have scored 81 tries. The Sharks, their opponents, tomorrow, have scored a paltry 38. And what makes the Lions so tough to defend against is that so many of their players find their way to the tryline: among them Courtnal Skosan who has scored nine, Malcolm Marx eight, and Kwagga Smith and Jaco Kriel seven. Just ask Robert du Preez. He was the scrumhalf for the Bulls team that lost the Currie Cup final to Natal in 1990, against all odds. Now he is the coach of the Sharks and he is stirring the fire in the bellies of his players to prove everybody wrong. Sharks teams have a history of pulling off upsets in the Currie Cup. They have also pulled off surprise away wins in Super Rugby in recent years to earn them a final in Hamilton. They have no pressure on them whatsoever and will go for broke. Why he did not play last week against the Lions, only coach Du Preez will know. He was on the bench with Garth April preferred to him at 10 and Lwazi Mvovo at 15. Funnily enough, the top points THERE is a lot more on the line tomorrow – and possibly in the coming weeks, too – than has been the case up to now, but the Lions will stick to their attack-from-all-parts game that has got them into the Super Rugby play-offs for the second year running.
Johan Ackermann’s men will host the Sharks at Ellis Park tomorrow for a place in the semi-finals; the winner going through to meet either the Hurricanes or Brumbies, who meet in Canberra early tomorrow. It is the third meeting between the Lions and Sharks this season, the last coming just last Saturday when Ackermann’s men won 27-10 in Durban.
The Lions are the hot favourites to progress after also beating Robert du Preez’s team in Joburg in the round-robin stage and because they’re playing at home, but there will certainly be more pressure on the hosts The Sharks can simply not match the Lions when it comes to players with X-factor and the ability to turn a game on its head. There are matchwinners and danger men scattered across the Lions team; from Marx to Franco Mostert, to Kriel and Smith up front; to Elton Jantjies and Harold Vorster, Lionel Mapoe, Skosan, Ruan Combrinck, Andries Coetzee and then on the bench Lourens Erasmus, Faf de Klerk, Rohan Janse van Rensburg and Sylvian Mahuza. scorers in Super Rugby this year are South Africans: Elton Janjies is No 1 (170 points), then Bosch (140) and Lionel Cronje (123). The 20-yearold Bosch is a match winner. He has the BMT to land those long-range, crucial kicks and create those vital tries. The composition of the respective loose trios could not be more contrasting. The Lions have livewires in Jaco Kriel and Kwagga Smith. The Sharks have bullie boys in the Du Preez twins and Philip van der Walt. The plan is for that trio to impose their muscularity and prevent the Lions half backs from getting into their stride. But they can only do that if the Sharks tight five pull finger, which brings us to the next point. In the first half of the match in Durban last week between the sides, Thomas du Toit, Chiliboy Ralepelle and Coenie Oosthuizen gained the upper hand and won scrum penalties for their side. It was a different story in the second half tomorrow than at any stage of the season. So will that mean a change in approach perhaps from the Lions, who’ll be desperate to make up for losing the final last year?
“We’ve done the hard part in the sense we’re at home for as long as we stay in the competition so at least we know there’s no travel factor this year,” said Ackermann yesterday.
“Also we can just about bank on the weather being good and the surface being dry ... and that means we can stick to the type of rugby that has brought us to this point. We like playing a certain way and changing now would do us no good. The recipe (of running the ball and looking to score tries) has worked for us and the players are comfortable with it so we’ll keep at it.
“My players are like race horses ... they’ve been groomed and drilled to play a certain way and it would be unfair on them if I asked them to change now. I want them to play with freedom, with intensity and ac- when the Lions front row changed tactics. In an interview early this week, Du Toit, says the Sharks are wiser and are confident that they can win the front row battle, especially with the referee being the same this week in Marius van der Westhuizen. There is never any shortage of Sharks supporters at Ellis Park and they will be in their thousands. The great Stadium will be mostly red but the Sharks will not be short of support. The Sharks players have said that the opening quarter is all important if they are to tame the Lions and they plan to come out of the blocks at a 100 miles an hour. If they can get early points and get their supporters behind them, they will get wind in their sails and have a chance of making a decent fist of this encounter. SINCE returning to Super Rugby in 2014 the Lions and Sharks have met eight times in the competition. Tomorrow’s meeting will be the ninth between them since March 8 2014, when the Sharks won handsomely 37-23 in Durban. In the return match at Ellis Park later that year, the Sharks of Jake White got up to win 25-12. The following year, with Gary Gold in charge, the Sharks won the first encounter between the sides 29-12 in Durban. Bismarck du Plessis captained the team, Jannie du Plessis packed down next to his brother at scrum time and Pieter-Steph du Toit wore the No 5 jersey on his back. Marcell Coetzee played on the openside, Pat Lambie was at 10 and Waylon Murray was at 13. SP Marais was the fullback. curacy, from the first minute.”
The Lions have been a try-machine this season, dotting down 81 times so far, and besides their ability to score from anywhere on the field they’ll also hold another advan- That match was the last one the Sharks would win in the next five ... as they haven’t beaten the Lions since. In the return match between the teams in Joburg on April 11, the Lions won 23-21 … and they haven’t looked back. In 2016, the Lions won comfortably 24-9 and 37-10 in Durban and Joburg respectively and this season Johan Ackermann’s men won 34-29 and 27-10 in Joburg and Durban respectively. The last time the Lions lost to a South African team was on May 2, 2015, against the Bulls at Loftus. The score was 35-33. Will it be six in a row against the Sharks for the Lions tomorrow. Few would bet against it. – JACQUES VAN DER WESTHUYZEN tage over the Sharks: they know what it’s like to be involved in knockout rugby.
Ackermann has stuck with the same team that did duty against the Sharks last week. LIONS STARTING XV: Andries Coetzee, Ruan Combrinck, Lionel Mapoe, Harold Vorster, Courtnall Skosan, Elton Jantjies, Ross Cronje, Ruan Ackermann, Kwagga Smith, Jaco Kriel (capt), Franco Mostert, Andries Ferreira, Ruan Dreyer, Malcolm Marx, Jacques van Rooyen; REPLACEMENTS: Akker van der Merwe, Corne Fourie, Johannes Jonker, Lourens Erasmus, Cyle Brink, Faf de Klerk, Rohan Janse van Rensburg, Sylvian Mahuza SHARKS STARTING XV: Lwazi Mvovo, Kobus van Wyk, Lukhanyo Am, Andre Esterhuizen, S’busiso Nkosi, Curwin Bosch, Cobus Reinach, Daniel du Preez, Jean-Luc du Preez, Philip van der Walt (capt), Stephan Lewies, Etienne Oosthuizen, Coenie Oosthuizen, Chiliboy Ralepelle, Thomas du Toit; REPLACEMENTS: Franco Marais/Stephan Coetzee, Juan Schoeman, Lourens Adriaanse, Jean Droste, Tera Mtembu, Michael Claassens, Garth April, Jeremy Ward