Lions prefer to leave late
De Bruin & Co will have to tighten up their game against Sunwolves
THE LIONS have opted to do most of their preparation for Saturday’s Super Rugby showdown with the Sunwolves in Singapore at home before boarding their flight to the east tomorrow.
Coach Swys de Bruin said the Lions preferred to be in Johannesburg for as long as possible and that previous late departures had worked out well for the team. The Lions won in Sydney against the Waratahs last season after only leaving Johannesburg on the Wednesday, three days before the match (and they kept the Australian team scoreless), while earlier this season they also only arrived in Argentina a few days before taking on, and beating, the Jaguares.
“The guys prefer going later and Singapore is anyway a hot and humid place at the moment,” said De Bruin. “We’ll do our training here on Monday and Tuesday and leave on Wednesday... leave ourselves to have only one session on that side before the match.”
It will be the Lions’ first visit to Singapore and the Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium after previously playing against the Sunwolves at Ellis Park and in Tokyo. The Lions have won all three of their clashes against one of the competition’s newest teams – 40-38 and 94-7 in Johannesburg and 26-13 in Tokyo. But while the Sunwolves have shown improvement since their first season in top-flight rugby, they have only won once this season in five outings. In their first two matches, at home, they lost 45-10 to the Sharks and 31-30 to the Waratahs, but then pulled off a stunning upset by beating the Chiefs 30-15 in Waikato. They then fell 28-20 to the Blues in Auckland and last week were edged 34-31 by the Reds. Three defeats by less than three points, and their win against the Chiefs, suggests the Sunwolves are a team to be taken very seriously. More so when you consider they are better off than the Lions in two crucial departments. After five matches each, the Sunwolves have made 53 clean line breaks to the Lions’ 46 and beaten 106 defenders to the Lions’ 96.
De Bruin & Co will have to tighten up their game if they are going to register a fourth win this season, this weekend. In their last two outings, against the Jaguares and Rebels, they have let in 11 tries, while scoring 12.
After two escapes De Bruin won’t be taking any chances this week and he could well opt for a more experienced side than what ran out against the Jaguares and Rebels. He’ll also hope Kwagga Smith (groin) is fit to travel and play as the loose forward has been one of the Lions’ key figures in 2019.