Things change more rapidly in Lions rugby than on the local political scene.
Hennie Brandt writes in the Beeld that when Jannes Labuschagne started training with the Lions again on Monday for the first time since his retirement in 2006, this former leader of the pack thought his return to the game would possibly take place only next season.
But after his performance during practice on Monday, Lions coach Eugene Eloff decided to pick the 32-year-old Labuschagne as one of the replacement forwards for Saturday’s Currie Cup match against the Sharks in the Lion’s Den.
Despite the fact that Labuschagne has not even played any club rugby since retiring, he has lost none of his skills. He is fit and physically in good shape.
He also showed at Ellis Park on Tuesday that he has lost none of his jumping abilities in the front of the line-outs.
And thanks to his experience of 103 provincial matches for the men in red and white, he knows all the shortcuts to make an impact as a substitute.
Labuschagne’s experience could also come in handy in calming the younger players in the Lions’ quest to beat the Sharks and book themselves a place in the semifinals.
Eugene Eloff could also be forced to give the number 13 jersey to Springbok outside centre against the Sharks because of the hand injury sustained by Jaco Pretorius in the victory over Boland.
Fourie was destined for the bench against the Sharks, but Pretorius’s injury could upset Eloff’s plans. A final decision whether Pretorius will man the midfield alongside Doppies la Grange will be taken on Thursday.
X-rays taken of Pretorius’s right hand on Tuesday revealed no fractures.
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😯
I suppose Mockford will only be availabale from next season 😉
Are these okes desperate or a bunch of loonies? Walter, explain yourself. 😈
handy player to have on the bench, but his conditioning must be appalling after spending two years out of the game.
ONE training session and the guy is in the match day 22. 😯 😯
WTF was he doing while retired? Wrestling Bulls to the ground?
No I don’t mean the chicks at the loftus after party, although he would probably have been in even better shape had that been the case. 😛 😛
@KSA Shark © (Comment 4) : they just need him to land one good punch 😉 Or how about a late, high tackle to take Fred out of the game?
Has Andre Pretorius retired yet?
@McLovin (Comment 6) : no – I think he’s still planing on making his twelfth comeback next year
@robdylan (Comment 7) : He should maybe give the paralympics a go.
😉
@McLovin (Comment 8) : ice cold! 😉
happy braai day mofos
@McLovin (Comment 8) : heh heh
@PJLD (Comment 10) :
mofos????? 😯
Dude!!!!!!!! you logged into Sharksworld not the wpclubrugby forum. 😛
@KSA Shark © (Comment 12) : it’s not the same thing as moffies, KSA 😉
@robdylan (Comment 13) :
mof, mofos, moffies all the same thing.
I am homophobic. 😳 😆 or is that claustrophobic or maybe I was a Homonymn or maybe even Homonymph (is there such a thing) 😳
😆
@KSA Shark © (Comment 14) :maybe u are just good ol fashioned crazy?
@PJLD (Comment 15) :
That’s not what my Physiotherapist calls it. Wait. It may have been my psychiatrist. 😉
@Silver Fox (Comment 2) :
Nothing wrong we just don’t have the depth that you guys have..we hve our backs against the wall due to lack of locks…hell We brought back Cronje from wrestling a tractor , Joe from the brink of a career ending back injury so Im certain Loffie wouldn’t bring back red card Johannes if he wasn’t sure he could add value.Besides its another Bok we can ad to our list..
Walter is there anyway that we can brng the attention to the Lions selectors of a certain player called Mockford playing down in Boland..???
kom aan loffster, klop daai bliksemse sharkies…ja, lekker.
any team sheets out yet, i want to see who will win, i like to think the lions are at a stage where they are ready to cause an upset, but having developed some nice locks, injuries seem to have taken their toll, as for the sharks, i cant think of a better backline in the comp, how has murray been going on the wing? always felt it was his best position. makes even more sense with jacobs and steyn.
@cab (Comment 19) :
No need for a team sheet to see who will win 😛
No nothing out yet. If past form is anything to go by then the Lions should name their team tonight/tomorrow morning and the Sharks will name theirs late tomorrow.
cab,
If we stick to our structures take the opportunities that come our way and not knock the ball on with the tryline beckoning then we just may be able to disrupt the star stuudded Sharks team enough to take a win.
Its gonna be close I think hopefully we can keep our nerve…also we playing at altitude so the mofos from the coast will slack off with 20min to go 😉
KSA why is my handle picture so much smaller than the others.. 👿
@CoffeeShopBok;-) (Comment 21) :
the mofos from the coast will slack off with 20min to go
Will 20minutes be enough for the Lions to close a 30 point gap? 😛
@CoffeeShopBok;-) (Comment 22) :
We like to try and keep the NOn sharks guys as oppressed as possible.
@CoffeeShopBok;-) (Comment 22) :
No seriously though. It is because it is not square.
When the pic is sized to display on here it maintains the aspect ratio of the picture.
You will notice that your pic is the same height as ours but not the same width. If your pic was wider than it was tall then it would be the same width as ours.
The best way to make full use of the space is to load a pic that is as close to square as possible.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 20) :
cheers, will wait for teamsheets before get my hopes up.
@CoffeeShopBok;-) (Comment 21) :
get the feeling loffie inches forward with every game, but we just lose too many players each bladdy season. i like your match report.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 25) :
cheers thanks KSA !
you know if the lions/sharks game is on showtime?
@cab (Comment 26) :
Thats the most frustrating..if we had hung on to most of our players over the last couple of years then the Super14 and a few CC would be shining brightly in our safes gaurded by ADT at Ellis park
@CoffeeShopBok;-) (Comment 27) :
Nope it ain’t 👿
Am busy looking at it right now. Showsport 1,2 4 and Extreme are all showing Premiership Football and Showsport 3 is showing Guinness Premiership.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 29) :
Not showing any CC match on Friday either. 👿
@KSA Shark © (Comment 29) :
that sucks bigtime…oh well back to rsg and another snotty email..sooner or later soemone over there has got to listen to me 😈
@CoffeeShopBok;-) (Comment 31) :
if it ain’t in arabic they ain’t even going to bother reading it. 😆
@KSA Shark © (Comment 32) :
Ill get one of my interpreters to write it up in arabic and then just copy and paste it over and over again…shit i was sooooo looking forward to watching this game…dammit!
@CoffeeShopBok;-) (Comment 33) :
I know the feeling, fortunately there is no travelling scheduled for me that interferes with the Rugby until after the CC. 😳
@KSA Shark © (Comment 34) : that include taking me to Bahrain 😉 😎
@KSA Sharkette (Comment 35) :
😛 😛
Hehehehehe Provided we are back before rugby. 😆
i have 16 castles,a good piece of steak ,some cheekien,dhanya sausage and a bottle of welgedacht cab sav.is that overdoing it?
@PJLD (Comment 37) :
i envy you..enjoy! 🙂
@CoffeeShopBok;-) (Comment 38) :charles!
Is Loffie not perhaps trying his hand (mind) at some mind games? Jannes last played for us in September 2004…so he’s been out of rugby for 4 years (not 2….)
@walter van transvaal.co.za (Comment 40) : really? That long?
I heard a rumour that he earned a salary of around R750k a year for two seasons without playing a single game…
@robdylan (Comment 41) :
Goodness if thats true surly some heads must roll…downright ridiculous 😯
Wonder if AP is also getting paid to have his buttock rubbed once a day..
@CoffeeShopBok;-) (Comment 42) : oh, I’m sure he is being richly rewarded
@robdylan (Comment 41) :
If that’s true it must have been for the 2005 and 2006 seasons then, his last game for us was Sept 2004
@PJLD (Comment 37) :
IMO alcohol is bad for a young body. Maybe you should keep some for me.
@walter van transvaal.co.za (Comment 44) : Sounds about right
Labuschagne played for nobody in 2005 and it seems was only part of the Cats squad in 2006
Squads:
2006
Cats (Vodacom Super 14)
2004
Cats (Vodacom Super 12)
Lions (ABSA Currie Cup Premier Division)
2003
Lions (ABSA Currie Cup – Premier Div.)
Cats (Vodacom Super 12)
@walter van transvaal.co.za (Comment 44) : that story was courtesy of my old mate David Spohr. I believe you know him?
@robdylan (Comment 48) :
We’ve never met in person, but he runs another website, doesn’t he?
@walter van transvaal.co.za (Comment 49) : More or less. We were once partners in another venture 🙂
I’ve looked out for him at matches at EPS (in the Media centre) but not sure what he looks like so never had the chance to chat to him in person.
@walter van transvaal.co.za (Comment 51) : He’s very tall with sandy hair and glasses. Can’t do better than that 🙂
@robdylan (Comment 52) :
That’s a big help….LOL!