Johannesburg — A desperate Lions team travel to Cape Town this week to rectify a narrow loss to the Bulls and it is expected — from their supporters and the awaiting Western Province alike — that they will do so bearing down with the full weight of their most powerful pack.
The Lions lost to the Bulls 33-32 at Ellis Park this past weekend. It was a match dominated by big collisions and forward power-plays with both teams refusing to submit up-front.
The scrums were rock solid, the line-outs keenly contested, the mauls a fearful attacking platform, while a war of attrition developed at the breakdowns. It was chef-kiss worthy stuff from the two marauding packs, and if the Lions bring the same intensity to Athlone Stadium on Friday (kick-off 5pm), then a Province pack devoid of their big-name players, will show all and sundry what they are truly made of.
Already, this Province pack have shown what they are capable of, after subduing the Pumas, whose gameplan is built on forward dominance, this past week in a fine 22-14 victory.
So, while the Lions will possibly arrive with a first eight consisting of grizzled franchise players such as Jaco Visagie, Ruan Venter, Ruben Schoeman, Emmanuel Tshituka and Francke Horn, the WP pack has the ability to subdue them, too.
That was certainly the belief of WP loosehead prop Kwenzo Blose on Tuesday during a media briefing ahead of the Currie Cup clash.
“As a pack,” the 28-year-old said, “we see it as an opportunity.
“With the Lions playing and scrumming well at the moment, that doesn’t take anything away from our development. We need to build on our performances from the previous weekends and try to be better.
“Not much is going to change in terms of those processes.”
It was a sentiment shared by assistant coach Labeeb Levy, who also had tighthead Lee-Marvin Mazibuko in support next to him.
“The Lions have got experience and they’ve got some youngsters – Asenathi Ntlabakanye is quite a big boy, Rynhardt Rijnsburger is also playing well. But Lee is getting a lot of advice from Neethling (Fouche) and from all our other tightheads.
“Every week he is scrumming against (Steven) Kitshoff and he won’t want for better preparation for a match. (Blose) has gone against Neethling, Frans (Malherbe) and them.
“It is good preparation ... We are a young and upcoming squad with players that have played at some point in the URC as well. It is an opportunity for them to step up and make a statement, raising their hands that they are ready for the next level as well.
“Levy added, ‘we are going to go for it. We have to go for it’.
“We had a nice training session on Tuesday against the URC team and that is the best preparation we could have had ... we can only control what we can control with our plans. If we execute it, we can end up with a positive result.”
The WP are currently fourth in the Cup standings but a loss to the Lions could see them drop out of the play-off spots with either the Bulls, who play the Pumas on Saturday, or the Griquas, who are in Bloemfontein to face the Free State Cheetahs, taking advantage of any slip-up.
IOL Sport