New South Wales coach Ewen McKenzie has accused the Lions of subterfuge with the make-up of their team for the match at the Sydney Football Stadium.
Bret Harris writes for The Australian that McKenzie suspects the Lions team will not be the same as the side that has been announced.
The Lions have flown fullback Earl Rose and second-rower Cobus Grobler from Johannesburg to Sydney after Justin St Jerry (concussion) and Anton van Zyl (calf) were sent home.
While Rose and Grobler were not named in the Lions’ team, McKenzie expects them to be in the 22-man squad.
“We don’t think the team they have named is the team that’s going to play,” McKenzie said.
“We believe a couple of their seasoned players have come across. Cobus Grobler and Earl Rose have come across.
“I doubt they would fly them in if they weren’t going to include them in the 22.
“We expect them to have a more experienced team than they have named so we are preparing for a pretty big game.”
With the ladder highly congested between third and ninth positions, the fourth-placed Waratahs not only need to beat the Lions, but also secure a bonus point to enhance their chances of finishing in the top four.
Even though the Lions are the third-worst defensive team in the competition, scoring tries against them is not necessarily an easy thing to do.
Although the Lions have missed 200 first up tackles, they scramble well in defence, denying the opposition an easy passage to the tryline. In fact, the Lions have only conceded four tries or more in two of their six losses to the Blues and Crusaders.
Despite the potential of bonus points to separate the top four contenders at the end of the regular season, McKenzie said scoring four tries was not part of the Waratahs’ thinking.
“I’ve never spoken about bonus points,” McKenzie said.
“At some point it will become evident if that becomes a possibility. We set out to make sure we win. If an opportunity comes along, you do that as well, but that is a consequence of playing well. We’ll just focus on trying to play well.”
If the Waratahs are focused, they should beat the Lions comfortably, but if they are over-confident after their gutsy win against Western Force last Saturday and distracted by McKenzie’s Parisian soujorn during the week, they will be in danger of being beaten.
“We’ve been at that end of the comp so we know what it looks like,” McKenzie said.
“We understand you can be there, but not be far away from the action. We saw that only last week against the Crusaders. They (Lions) pushed them. They were leading at half-time.
“They have season goals and they still believe they can achieve those goals in terms of where they finish. It’s not a nice feeling when you lose back-to-back, particularly when you get close. They will feel if they can get a bit of luck, the wheel will turn for them.
“Most of the teams at the bottom of the comp will be looking to try and finish well. The Reds are obviously talking about that extensively.”
Meanwhile, McKenzie, who is fighting it out with former Bulls coach Heyneke Meyer to take over at the privately owned French club Stade Francais, has supported the ARU’s decision to open the four Super 14 teams to private equity.
“I think it’s a logical way to look at raising revenue and maybe other ways of functioning,” McKenzie said.
“Obviously, we have to get the package right, but it is definitely worth looking at”
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Well we will know in a short while i suppose 😉
Loffie isn’t known to play these kind of games, so I would be surprised.
Same here.
I would not be surprised if it is McKenzie, trying to create distractions for the Lions.
Interesting little bit at the end though about HM and McK fighting it out for the Stade Francais job. Obvioulsy these guys haven’t heard that HM said he didn’t want the job.
Morning gents,see you in about half an hour
Stupid rain is disrupting my running plans
Stupid Work is disrupting my Rugby Plans 👿
Its raining here with i nice cold wind blowing,ideal for a run.
😆
The worrying thing is……………..I am not sure if you are joking or not PJLD 😉
really? I’m too much of a chicken to run in the rain
Dead serious KSA
I really enjoy it.
Ag rob man,it keeps you lekka cool
Did anyone watch that IPL game last night?
I live in England. Overheating is not a huge problem.
Ok, Caity is awake. See you guys later
Clayton
No but I DID watch the pro20 Semi final between the Dolphins and the Bloem Boys. 😎
See you in the final matey. 😀
hehehe
What happens if tomorrows game is rained out?(its going to be)
I wanna watch the rerun of that damned IPL game, McUllum smacked a 158 not out.
I just managed to watch how Kallis team imploded.
I must admit when i was still in SA and used to run races on the weekends it was not bad at all running in the rain.
it was the waiting before hand IN the rain that was KAK.
You perhaps do the 2 oceans about 10 years ago when the mother of all storms hit CT?
Actually it was longer than that,but yoh, i felt sorry for the people running that day,56 kms in a typhoon cant be fun.
No
Never did the two oceans.
Did the Comrades
6 or 7 Marathons
a Few 32’s
Lots of 21’s 15’s, 10’s and 5’s.
Coldest race ever was the Camperdown 21 three weeks before the comrades. On the way home after the race about halfway to durban I got this tingling (pins and needles) feeling around my waist area and then realised it was the feeling returning to my body.
I started the race as a long slow training run and at about 5k’s decided FOOK this and raced so that i could get out of the cold. 🙂
You NEVER did the Oceans????
Isn’t that a sin in running circles?
Hey man,if the pins and needles started at your waist area i think its because you pi$$ed yourself
Damn but that sounds a bit too cold for my liking.
😆 Well it was cold enough that i might have done that and NOT known. 😆
It was cold to start with and then the rain and fog came down a few k’s in. I just bolted. probably cost myself a few minutes on my comrades time for racing so close but who cares. 😉
I only ever did one Ultra and that was the Comrades.
One day when you get into running you MUST go and do the Kosmos 3 in 1.
it is run between Evander, Trichardt and Secunda.
5am – 42,2
12pm – 21,1
5pm – 10
Total 73,3 in one day.
You can do all three or individual ones. What a JOL.
No thank you!
Im into running, kinda.
I log a good few km’s every week and do the odd trail run too, but i dont do anything official.
I think i just enjoy the endorphins after klapping a long run out the way.
endorphins are cool
Did areally heavy spin class on Sunday evening, What a blast
Im scared of spinning, but i really want to try it
took me forever but then a few mates decided to do it together.
Mob mentality, safety in numbers that sort of thing 😉
I cant even organise the damned mob. 🙁
I did one oceans in 1992..was the first time I ever started a race in the rain..