Bok lessons could help Lions sink Sharks
LIONS coach Johan Ackermann hopes his batch of Springboks do not let their caps go to their heads, so to speak, ahead of the match against the Sharks at Ellis Park on Saturday.
His players were the toast of the international season, with all eight of the Boks called up featuring in the three-match Test series against Ireland and a further three turning out for the SA A side against the England Saxons in June. Last year they had no one in the World Cup squad.
With a six-point lead ahead of the next best team in the South African group on 42, home ground advantage and a game plan that is sizzling, complacency seems the only thing that can knock the Lions off their perch.
But Ackermann said the players have not puffed their chests since arriving on Monday.
“We are very fortunate that the character of our players is such that they won’t have egos or let being Springboks go to their heads,” said Ackermann. “We always look at players’ character and this group has been humble. It is a personal challenge, too, for them to stay hungry. It took a lot of effort to get there and the only way you’re going to stay there is to keep that hunger and I trust they still have it.
“I don’t think it will change anything in the way we treat them and how we are going to approach our games. I don’t care if the guy’s got 50 caps or zero, if he’s not going to work hard he’s not going to be selected.”
The Springbok selections and the influence exerted by the likes of Warren Whiteley, Ruan Combrinck, Faf de Klerk and Julian Redelinghuys confirmed the Lions have struck gold. SA’s second half comeback against Ireland at Ellis Park even had Ackermann’s fingerprints all over it.
But it was not all rosy and Ackermann hopes they learnt from the harsh lessons of the pressure they were under as Boks.
The next three remaining games before the Super Rugby playoffs will reveal all.
“Hopefully those players will take the lessons they have learnt, the pressure they were under at Test level, how they came back from behind to clinch a must-win game last Saturday will rub off on the team this weekend,” said Ackermann.
He has welcomed back Andries Coetzee to fullback. But his reunion with Whiteley has been soured by the captain getting ruled out for the rest of the season through a shoulder injury. Ruan Ackermann will take Whiteley’s place at the back of the scrum, while Faf de Klerk and Elton Jantjies look set to continue their sterling work as a halfback pairing.
The Sharks, meanwhile, named Odwa Ndungane at fullback in place of the injured Willie le Roux. Sharks coach Gary Gold has also slotted Boks Lwazi Mvovo and JP Pietersen into the mix. Flyhalf Garth April assumes responsibilities at flyhalf while Patrick Lambie recovers from a concussion suffered in the first Test against Ireland.