The Lions will be without lock Wikus van Heerden for their clash against the Hurricanes on Friday, after the Bok lock suffered a concussion following a spear tackle by Andries Strauss. He will be hoping to make a return to the field of play in time to face the Sharks in Durban the following weekend.
In the meantime, Hendrik Roodt will follow on from his debut off the bench for the Lions and start the match against the Hurricanes. Roodt, who has been a bit of a journeyman in his young career so far, started off with the Bulls, moved to the Waratahs for the 2009 and 2010 Super Rugby season, returning to the Cheetahs in 2011 and now representing the Lions.
Andries Strauss was the first South African to go through the new judiciary system, which had the player take advantage of the reduced sentencing bonus for pleading guilty, and got a two week suspension.
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Without Rhodes and Wickus we are starting to delve into our untried and inexperienced depth. Both very good for us in the lineouts too.
Whitley must start on Friday night as an extra lineout option.
Speedy recovery guys.
@csb (Comment 1) :
Do you rate Roodt?
Lions depth tested early on already?
@Richard Ferguson (Comment 2) :
Its to early for me to make a call ..Hav hardly seen him play sadly.
The bit I saw on Sat was promising ..needs to work on his handling though …I guess time will tell.
We lose another player along the lines of Rhodes and Wickus and we are in a spot of bother.
@Original Pierre (Comment 3) :
So it would seem.
We missing quite a few experienced players in Waylon, Maku,Rhodes,Wickus and dare I say Dylan.
@csb (Comment 4) :
Perhaps we can loan you Marais, just for the season?
You don’t spend money buying a player and we get our young lock a bit of experience…
@Richard Ferguson (Comment 6) : Love that idea.
@Ben (Comment 7) : I second that.
@Richard Ferguson (Comment 6) :
You wanna drop the hint to Plum and I’ll see what I can do on friday night with Mitch …
Is it possible to take a player on loan once the season’s begun.
i think Wickus will be out for 3 weeks i heard . So he should be back for the Game against the Stormers
Luckily we have a buy in between . so he will only miss 2 games
Don’t think they need Marais,if any team in SA’s got the best junior locks in SA right now,it’s the Lions,Ruan Venter and Ruan Botha look the business along with those two giants Willemse,forgot the other 1′s name. While the hype has always been around Venter,I reckon in Ruan Botha they have a future lineout star,that’s why the other day I was thinking maybe Pieter-Steph at blindside flank isn’t a bad idea,I mean if he can be used there for the Baby Boks,we can accommodate the Lions combo in the second row
@Zibbie (Comment 10) : Who are you guys going to buy in between?
@Ben (Comment 12) :
Matfield
@csb (Comment 9) :
I am sure the player can move on loan if he hasn’t actually played for the team that he is originally with..
I think?
@Ludz (Comment 11) :
Is Ruan Botha the player that got injured in the warm-up against the Kings …Mitchell really rates.
@csb (Comment 15) :
i think that would be him yes .
@Ludz (Comment 11) : Etienne Oosthuizen. Willemse is very much in the mould of Kobus Wiese – as wide as he is tall. Props will have problems lifting him in the lineout. PSdT will hopefully go to the JWC since he can cover lock and flank. Remember there is also Jacques du Plessis who is rated highly. Played SA Schools in 2011. As Muzi will tell you Botha did very well in the SAU19 final last year stealing lots of ball
@csb (Comment 15) : He got concussed. Probably ok now but dont think he’ll play Super rugby with Greeff and Roodt around. Out of the 4 young Lions locks I’d say Venter will play before the others who will all be involved in the Vodacom Cup
Don’t worry Lions, just put some pressure on the Canes forwards and the penalties will start to flow.