12 Responses to Super Rugby: Lions side named for Sharks clash

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  1

  Angostura on 9 April 2015 at 8:52 am

  Sharks field an essentially Currie Cup-standard team against another “watered down Currie Cup” team (hat tip to nortie); perhaps this selection will result in some much needed passion, pride, flair, guts & discipline:

  Sharks:

  15 Odwa Ndungane, 14 S’bura Sithole, 13 Waylon Murray, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Fred Zeilinga, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Renaldo Bothma, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Marco Wentzel (captain), 4 Mouritz Botha, 3 Lourens Adriaanse, 2 Franco Marais, 1 Dale Chadwick.

  Subs:
  16 Monde Hadebe, 17 Thomas du Toit, 18 Matt Stevens, 19 Etienne Oosthuizen, 20 Willem Alberts, 21 Conrad Hoffmann, 22 Lionel Cronje, 23 Jack Wilson
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  2

  Lion4ever on 9 April 2015 at 10:54 am

  The so called watered down Currie Cup team managed to beat win 3 away from home, and 2 of those teams were pretty much loaded with international players. Ditto the win against the Bulls.
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  3

  Nama on 9 April 2015 at 2:30 pm

  Lions supporters should not be too cocky. Before last Saturday’s win, 2 of the 3 teams they beat are the bottom feeders in the competition this year, international players or not. They are also the only SA team to lose against the “mighty Sharks” in the 1st round of the local derbies. The Cheetahs, Stormers and the Bulls all beat the Sharks.

  Now that The Sharks have turned into Goldfish, the Lions have a big chance to revenge that defeat but they should be totally aware that it won’t be a walkover just because of last week’s results.
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  4

  Stormersboy on 9 April 2015 at 2:39 pm

  That Sharks front row is better that their 1st choice one in many ways, plus some of the youngsters will have something to prove, much like the Lions.

  I just hope it’s a clear win and not a controversial one. Again.
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  5

  Nama on 9 April 2015 at 2:44 pm

  @ Stormersboy:
  Obviously the game most (SA) supporters are looking forward to. I also hope that it will be a clean (no reason for it not to be) spectacle with not too much influence from Berry on the final outcome.
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  6

  Nama on 9 April 2015 at 4:16 pm

  I see that some lions supporters now all of a sudden expect their team to score a bonus point win over the Goldfishies on Saturday to pave their way to the play offs. Do they even know that Saturdays score of 22 by their team was the 1st time this season that they cracked the 20 point barrier in a match this season and that it only happened through a try in the last seconds of the match? How on earth are they going to score 4 tries for a BP?

  Hulle raak nou ‘n bietjie erg.

  Hoop net vir ‘n wen. Dis al goed genoeg.
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  7

  Lion4ever on 9 April 2015 at 4:36 pm

  @ Nama:
  The Lions have a realistic chance of beating the Sharks with a 4 try bonus point. Each of the Lions wins so far was a close affair, and very nearly doing the same to the Stormers. The Sharks are in disarray through injuries and suspensions, as well as trying to get to grips with Gary Gold’s way. The Lions are a gutsy team, who through sheer bloody mindedness managed to snatch victory in all 4 of their wins. This Lions team at Ellis Park is a very different proposition to the outfit that the Sharks convincingly beat at Kings Park.

  Remember that the Lions love using the ball, but have ground out ugly wins, so will be itching to do some damage out wide. If the Sharks give them a sniff, the Lions will make sure its a long afternoon for the Sharks. Conversely, the Lions cannot be complacent, or they will be beaten by a Sharks side aching to make amends for the poor start to the season.

  Having said that, I am backing the Lions by 12
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  8

  Victoriabok on 9 April 2015 at 5:14 pm

  It seems Dr Brendan fancies the Lions

  http://www.supersport.com/rugby/blogs/brendan-venter/Pride_and_prejudice

  Pride and prejudice

  “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog.” – Mark Twain

  I have worked with players before who were perceived to be average by the system because they weren’t deemed big enough, strong enough or fast enough. However, very often they ended up dispelling their doubters owing to the fact that they were able to draw upon an intangible ingredient within themselves. I have always favoured players with inner-fight.

  Lions head coach Johann Ackermann and his trusty assistant Swys de Bruin have basically taken a bunch of players that were deemed surplus to requirement at other South African unions and turned them into an incredible force. As such, the dynamic coaching duo deserve much credit for moulding a team together. These players are talented and are not back-ups.

  I believe style of play has never been the overriding reason for a side’s success. As a team, you can attack in various areas – every team tries to play off nine, off ten and behind the back of forwards – and you can defend in different systems. You can play the kicking game in alternate ways and you can even implement subtle nuances at the set-piece. However, the critical point is that in terms of a model, the technical bit is genuinely easy to achieve.

  If you possess good players and professional coaching, you can put a system in place to make things work but, for me, that’s not what underlines the Lions’ endeavour. That feature is found in human beings and simply cannot be measured in the form of statistics. You can’t say, “But, look at our impressive tackle percentage and our return-to-action percentage.”

  The undefinable quality I speak of showed itself when Howard Mnisi chased the quick restart after he had just come on. He displayed a fervent desire to get the ball back in an attempt to score the match-winning try. Faf de Klerk showed the same fight not to settle for the draw when he took the quick tap which found Akker van der Merwe. There are so many examples of this group of players coming together and having a belief in their own abilities.

  GOOD TEAMS WIN MORE CLOSE GAMES THAN THEY LOSE

  Although the Lions are not putting teams away by big margins, the point is that good teams win more close games than they lose. Part of their recipe has been to assemble a group of competitive individuals, forge them into a family and make them work hard for each other.

  However, that’s not the only aspect. The Lions boast a top-class set-piece, they identified their defence as a problem when they went overseas and have duly rectified that aspect. They also play some lovely, attractive running rugby and play for territory when needs must.

  From my point of view, it will be critical that South African rugby never loses a coach of Ackermann’s calibre to Japan, for instance. The former lock stands as a central pillar in his side’s ongoing success and has, in the process, become an asset to our professional coaching landscape at large.

  Lions CEO Rudolf Straeuli also deserves a nod of approval. My former teammate did a great job behind the scenes for a number of years at the Sharks and has carried that over to the Gauteng-based side, which I believe other local franchises can now look up to and admire.

  However, for the Lions’ sake, one hopes that from a financial standpoint they can prove sustainable at a ground like Emirates Airline Park. The Lions are fighting against the odds with a big financial backlog which was not their fault but has accumulated over the years.

  A further concern to the coffers is that it takes so much effort from people in Johannesburg to attend a match at the iconic venue. It’s a mission to take in a rugby game there – the stadium is not ideally situated – compared to Loftus Versfeld or Newlands, for example. Meanwhile, going to a match at Kings Park as a spectator is both an outing and a pleasure.
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  9

  IAAS on 9 April 2015 at 8:04 pm

  @ Victoriabok:

  When referring to the Lions performance of the last year or two under coach Ackermann, one is reminded of the saying ” The sum of the parts is greater than the whole.”

  It brings out the essence of team work. Of playing for each other. All teams talk about it.

  The Lions make it happen.
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  10

  Angostura on 9 April 2015 at 9:42 pm

  IAAS wrote:

  The sum of the parts is greater than the whole

  hmmm
  you’ve got that one inverted 😀
  (unless you meant to be referring to The Sharks)
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  11

  Nama on 10 April 2015 at 12:59 am

  @ Victoriabok:
  “I have worked with players before who were perceived to be average by the system because they weren’t deemed big enough, strong enough or fast enough. However, very often they ended up dispelling their doubters owing to the fact that they were able to draw upon an intangible ingredient within themselves. I have always favoured players with inner-fight.”

  You are talking about players like Aplon, Kolbe, De Jongh…aren’t you?
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  12

  Nama on 10 April 2015 at 1:35 am

  8 @ Victoriabok:
  Isn’t the Doc a consultant with the Goldfishies?