Refreshed Kriel ready to rumble
RETURNING: STAR FLANKER LIKELY TO FACE STORMERS
He has welcomed the enforced break from rugby.
For explosive Lions flanker Jaco Kriel the knee injury that ruled him out of the Springbok November tour was almost a bitter-sweet experience. Kriel, one of the Lions biggest attacking weapons in this year’s Super Rugby competition, said this week with conditioning a big focus point for the Boks this year, it gave him a decent break.
“The injury came at an inopportune time, but those things are out of our hands,” said Kriel.
“But now thinking back it was a blessing in disguise. It gave me a proper rest period from Japan and Super Rugby.”
Kriel and a string of his costars have been rested for the Lions first two warm-up games, but are expected to be unleashed against the Stormers in the final pre-season match.
“The other guys carried on late last year and played through but I had four weeks off and got mentally refreshed and then started again, so the injury was good for me in a way,” said Kriel.
It was also in Japan that longtime flank partner Warwick Tecklenburg first told him of his plans to hang up his boots.
“Warwick dearly wanted to win Super Rugby last year and he said it’s the one thing he wanted to do still and he was really very heartbroken after the final,” said Kriel.
“I think it took him quite some time to make the call. We definitely still wanted him at the Lions, he is our brother and he did tremendous work here at the Lions, so we will miss him a great deal.”
But because Kriel knew about Tecklenburg’s news it didn’t come as such a big shock as it did to the rest of the rugby fraternity.
“We spoke about it in Japan already and it was then that he told us he was going to end his career,” said Kriel.