The Citizen (KZN)

SA sides bid to end drought

LOCAL FRANCHISES EMBARK ON A SEASON THAT THEY HOPE WILL END IN GLORY The top players will have the World Cup on their minds.

- Rudolph Jacobs

In an all-important World Cup year, there will be renewed interest in the SA Conference when the local Super Rugby campaign kicks off today. While the Lions have been the country’s flagship team for the last three seasons, no South African side has won the title since the Bulls edged out the Stormers in Soweto in 2010.

The Sharks will be the first South African team in action today, starting their challenge against the Sunwolves in Singapore at 12.55pm.

Though the Sunwolves were not rated among the top teams ahead of the competitio­n, coach Robert du Preez was hoping to start their campaign off well, with the expected humid conditions providing perhaps the biggest challenge for the Durbanites.

Du Preez named nine Springboks in his line-up this week, and while the injury to flyhalf Curwin Bosch was a setback, it gave Robert du Preez (junior) a chance to shine. There was also lots of interest in the performanc­e of Aphelele Fassi at fullback.

The only game scheduled on SA soil was probably also the biggest of the weekend for local fans, with the traditiona­l north-south derby taking place between the Bulls and the Stormers at Loftus Versfeld this afternoon (5.15pm).

The Stormers have had the better of the Bulls over the last few years, and though they are without big names like props Steven Kitshoff and Frans Malherbe and lock Eben Etzebeth, they still have enough firepower to take the battle to the home side.

The Bulls, meanwhile, named a strong team and were looking to start coach Pote Human’s new term on a high note, with Boks like captain Lood de Jager, flyhalf Handre Pollard and centre Jesse Kriel needing to set the tone.

“Recent history in this fixture shows how formidable the Stormers have been,” Human said.

“They’ve won seven of their last nine games against us and will have more than enough confidence coming here, but we managed to beat them last year at Loftus and I firmly believe we can do it again.”

In the final game featuring a local side tonight (11.40pm), the Lions were attempting to end a winless spell going back three years against the Jaguares in Buenos Aires.

Lions coach Swys de Bruin picked a formidable side with a lot of firepower at the back in the form of flyhalf Elton Jantjies and wingers Aphiwe Dyantyi and Courtnall Skosan, and they were hoping players like hooker Malcolm Marx and captain Warren Whiteley would provide the required spark up front.

By taking a different approach to their previous visits to Buenos Aires, De Bruin hoped their tactics would pay dividends.

“In the past we flew over there on the Sunday, but this time we decided to fly over only on the Wednesday. It’s something that worked well for us last year when we played the Waratahs in Sydney in our first tour game (which the Lions won 29-0),” De Bruin said.

“I won’t say the guys are desperate but they really want to do well over there.”

Super Rugby fixtures, 42 & 43

 ?? Pictures: Gallo Images, Backpagepi­x ?? THE LEADERS. From left, South African conference captains Jeronimo de la Fuente of the Jaguares, Siya Kolisi of the Stormers, the Lions’ Warren Whiteley, Lood de Jager of the Bulls and Louis Schreuder of the Sharks will be looking to capture the Super Rugby title for their respective teams this season.
Pictures: Gallo Images, Backpagepi­x THE LEADERS. From left, South African conference captains Jeronimo de la Fuente of the Jaguares, Siya Kolisi of the Stormers, the Lions’ Warren Whiteley, Lood de Jager of the Bulls and Louis Schreuder of the Sharks will be looking to capture the Super Rugby title for their respective teams this season.
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