Ackermann’s men should beware Sharks bearing gifts at Ellis Park

Home comforts won’t stop rampant Sharks FORTRESS Ellis Park, the Bastion of Emirates Airline Park, the Lions Den, whatever you call it, it all smacks of complacency. The Lions are preparing to lower the drawbridge and welcome the Sharks to their house, but they seem to be relying solely on the fact that they are at home to win them the match.

The talk has been very different all week from the two camps.

The Sharks have been happy to knuckle down and get on with their work; another day, and another chance to earn a win. The Lions meanwhile have been almost boastful and non-committal to the threat the Sharks can bring, happy that their fortified walls will stand.

But the Sharks are planning an invasion the Trojans would be proud of, underplaying their chances and their ability so much that the Lions are gleeful at the present that has been placed at their portcullis.

When the whistle goes, and the Sharks are free to run wild on the hallowed turf, all respect will go out the window as a much more professional Sharks outfit will grab the scraggly Lions by their ruffled manes and force them to play a structured game.

Bruisers like Jean-Luc du Preez, with carbon-copy brother in tow, Thomas du Toit, and Etienne Oosthuizen will leave the Lions pack looking like a meowing tabby, which in turn will leave a confidence player like Elton Jantjies hopelessly lost in leading their only weapon – their backline.

Coach Johan Ackermann may have the plaudits in his short career, but he doesn’t possess the cunning of coach Du Preez, and while the Lions think they will be playing a loose game of tag, they will actually be sitting down to a game of chess against a grandmaster. Lions to out-gun, out-run and out-number ... There was a time not too long ago that the Sharks supporters out-numbered the Lions fans at Ellis Park. I mean, heck, every second car in Joburg has a Sharks sticker on the back of it.

Going to Ellis Park, or Emirates Airline Park as it is now called, to support the Lions against the Sharks was a pretty daunting task … invariably the home team would get thumped and the black and white flags with that irritating shark on it would be waved around, from before kick-off until long after the final whistle had blown.

But that doesn’t happen anymore. Thankfully.

Under Ackermann, the Lions have turned things around quite drastically in the last few years and it is again the red and white of the Lions that dominates the colour scenes at the stadium.

And that will again be the case tomorrow … those hard-core fans will come out in their numbers and they’ll over-power the pesky Joburgers who simply cannot get their Sharks blood out of them.

Mufasa, the Lions mascot, will rev them up by dragging ol’ little sharkie by his tail around the stadium and he may even use ol’ sharkie for a ride… but there will only be one winner – the mighty roaring lion.

After all, Ackermann’s men have not lost at home in almost a year, and 12 matches, including four in the Currie Cup.

A win against the Sharks this weekend will make it nine on the trot in Super Rugby.

Now if that’s not a record to scare the sharkies then I don’t know what is.

Against this free-running Lions team, who have scored on average 6.6 tries per game in their eight-game unbeaten run at home, the sharkies will run out of breath on the highveld and head back to Durban wondering what happened.