The rugby weekend kicks off with an interesting fight at Ellis Park, the Lions hosting Western Province.
The Lions will be full of confidence, but as was pointed out to me on the site, will not be quite the same team thanks to the change at flyhalf. Elton Jantjies starts the match in place of Marnitz Boshoff, who has to shift to fullback. I’ve always been a Jantjies fan, so I will give him the benefit of the doubt to shine in this match. There will be a bit of bad blood, seeing as Jantjies spent the early part of the year amongst most of these WP players.
Western Province have had a low key start to the season but are sitting pretty at the top of the log, one point clear of the Sharks. It’s a tough second week on the road for the Cape side, but rather play in Johannesburg than playing at the swimming pool called Newlands. The worry for Western Province fans is that Kurt Coleman is starting at flyhalf, but with a quality backline outside him, don’t be surprised if we see a few tries from them tonight.
Lions: 15 Marnitz Boshoff, 14 Deon Helberg, 13 Robert de Bruyn, 12 Dylan Des Fountain, 11 Anthony Volmink, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Guy Cronje, 8 Lambert Groenewald, 7 Derick Minnie (captain), 6 Warwick Tecklenburg, 5 Franco van der Merwe, 4 Willie Britz, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 Willie Wepener, 1 CJ van der Linde
Substitutes: 16. Robbie Coetzee, 17. Jacques van Rooyen, 18. Hugo Kloppers, 19. JJ Breedt, 20. Jaco Kriel, 21. Tian Meyer, 22. Andries Coetzee
Western Province:15 Gio Aplon, 14 Gerhard van den Heever, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Cheslin Kolbe, 10 Kurt Coleman, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Nizaam Carr, 7 Rynhardt Elstadt, 6 Deon Fourie (captain), 5 De Kock Steenkamp, 4 Michael Rhodes, 3 Pat Cilliers, 2 Tiaan Liebenberg, 1 Steven Kitshoff
Substitutes: 16 Scarra Ntubeni, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Gerbrandt Grobler, 19 Rohan Kitshoff, 20 Louis Schreuder, 21 Tim Swiel, 22 Michael van der Spuy
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WP by 100. 😉
Think WP will take this one. Lions did play some great rugby last weekend but I’m not sure how much of that was a result of the yellow card. Momentum was lost at that point and the Bulls appeared to get desperate which allowed the Lions to punish them for every mistake. My guess is WP will strangle the Lions out of the game.
Currie Cup vs WP since 1991:
Lions 21
WP 20
Draw 1
@Ellis Park
Lions 16
WP 4
Draw 1
Team stats:
Ave Age
Lions: 23.68
WP: 24.18
CC Caps
Lions: 438
WP: 704
SR Caps
Lions: 352
WP: 689
First Class Caps
Lions: 1165
WP: 1682
None of the Cape Town rain, a bit windy though but the pitch is ready for a running game
17:00:
Sunny. Mild
20°C
Wind: 36 km/h WNW
Rain: 0%
20:00:
Clear. Cool
13°C
Wind: 26 km/h W
Rain: 0%
I have the lions by 4 on superbru-so far its not looking good
I think Juan de Jongh is a very dirty player and cheats on purpose (professional fouls)…even more so this Currie Cup season…why do ref’s not deal this properly…
Draw 31 all. Lions 4 tries vs WP 3. Halftime WP 25 Lions 10