Viljoen to solve Lions’ flyhalf crisis
LIGHTNING is not supposed to strike twice in the same place, but it has nailed the Lions ahead of today’s clash against the Glasgow Warriors in that two flyhalves have been ruled out of the match – in the space of a week – with the same injuries.
First, it was the talented youngster Jordan Hendrikse, who broke his ankle playing against the Scarlets, and then in training this week, another fine talent, Eddie Fouche, went down with an ankle injury.
That has necessitated coach Ivan van Rooyen having to invent a new flyhalf in usual full-back EW Viljoen for the third-round United Rugby Championship match (4.05pm kickoff) and, to his credit, Van Rooyen has not tried to sugarcoat the undesirability of the situation.
Speaking from Glasgow on the eve of the match, he said, with an ironic smile: “It would be unfair to try and convince anyone that EW is an outand-out flyhalf, so it is a major challenge for us. It is hardly ideal to lose two flyhalves in a week, and not being able to fly in a replacement.”
But the rules governing the Covid isolation of a player flying in for South
Africa have just changed, and Van Rooyen is hopeful chief executive Rudolf Straeuli can get him a fresh 10 for next week’s final tour game.
“The new ruling with us now being off the UK’S red list means we should be able to get a replacement, and Rudolf is working on that, but for now we have to build a plan around EW and give him the best support we can,” the coach explained.
“There has to be a shared responsibility between the playmakers at 9, 10, 12 and 15,” Van Rooyen said.
“There has to be more proactive organising to help EW, but in essence it won’t change the way we are going to play tactically. It might actually bring a slightly different element to our game!”
15 Divan Rossouw 14 Stean Pienaar 13 Manuel Rass 12 Burger Odendaal (capt) 11 Rabz Maxwane 10 EW Viljoen 9 Andre Warner 8 Ruhan Straeuli 7 Vincent Tshituka 6 Jaco Kriel 5 Pieter Janse van Vuren 4 Ruben Schoeman 3 Jannie du Plessis 2 Jaco Visagie 1 Sti Sithole.
Substitutes:
PJ Botha, Morgan Naude, Carlu Sadie, Reinhard Nothnagel, Sibusiso Sangweni, Morne van den Berg, Matt More, Wandisile Simelane