Asenathi Ntlabakanye has some scrum beef to settle for Lions against Cardiff

Morgan Bolton|Published

Asenathi Ntlabakanye of the Lions during training at Ellis Park this week. Photo: BackpagePix

Just like Drake and Kendrick Lamar, Asenathi Ntlabakanye has a beef to settle.

The target of his ire – Munster – have long departed South Africa with back-to-back victories on the Highveld, so his vengeance will now fall upon Cardiff at Ellis Park tomorrow (6.15pm kick-off).

Ntlabakanye came on as a replacement early in the second stanza in the 33-13 loss against the defending champions on April 27, and although disappointed with the result, the fact that he was part of a scrum that conceded a penalty to Munster absolutely rankles.

“It does hurt me man, to be honest,” he said frankly when looking back at the penalty in the 73rd minute.

“I know a lot of people don’t look at it that way, but I take those things very personally – those little battles – knowing that guy can go back to Ireland saying, ‘I outscrummed that guy’.

“If you ask my missus, I was quite grumpy when I got back home for a solid 24 hours. I got over it, and learnt a few lessons.”

The Lions are statistically the best scrummaging unit in the URC with a 96% success rate, and throughout the competition have lost only three scrums.

They have won 22 penalties – the fifth most in the tournament – from the set-piece, too, so it is no surprise that the Joburgers take immense pride in that department.

Against Munster, they lost one of those engagements at a crucial moment when 28-13 down, but with momentum on their side.

Although Cardiff have had a torrid season – the Welsh side are 12th in the standings on 24 points – they will come well-armed to Ellis Park with the second-best scrum in the URC.

In this endeavour, they’ve have been inspired by Test props Corey Domachowski, Keiron Assiratti and Rhys Carre, and former Wales Under-20 hooker Liam Belcher in the front row, with Ben Donnell, Seb Davies and Teddy Williams among their lock stocks completing a formidable tight-five.

The Lions can ill-afford any slip-ups against the visitors in what they expect will be a titanic tussle once again upfront.

Against Munster, they were not only outplayed but also outsmarted, and must be wise to any such re-enactment attempted by the Blues.

The Irish team played percentage rugby, poking and prodding the Lions into mistakes and rash decisions.

They took their time, employed a hefty amount of gamesmanship and chipped away at the mental fortitude of their hosts.

By the time the Lions started threatening their line in the second half, the home side were a desperate bunch as they chased the game with a panic-induced verve that resulted in plenty of mistakes, but little reward.

According to the 25-year-old tighthead prop, they have identified where Munster exposed them so badly, and will be looking to close those cracks so that they do not get exploited again this season.

Said Ntlabakanye: “You have got to be critical about yourself and look at your performances as an individual before you can look at the team.

“Most of us weren’t good on the day as individuals and as a team. We went out of our structure at times, and they played us out of our structure.

“If you play Test-level players like that,” he continued, “those guys know exactly what to do. What we took out of that is to not go out of our identity… We lost the battle in doing the small things very well. We were too keen to play the ball instead of looking after it.”

As for the other small battle evolving in the hip-hop world, Ntlabakanye is quite clear on which side he falls.

“I’ve got to go with Drake... I’ve just got to go with him.”

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