Johannesburg - Fan favourite and darling of ‘The Park’, Jaco Kriel, will finally make his debut of this URC season for the Emirates Lions against Scarlets this weekend – a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.
The Springbok flank will start at the side of the scrum on Sunday at Emirates Airline Park (kick-off 1.30pm), packing down alongside a reshuffled loose-trio that will also see the debut of Darrien-Lane Landsberg.
Kriel has endured several weeks on the sideline due to a serious leg injury, but has seemingly recovered in the nick of time to slot in at No 6 after form player Francke Horn limped off last week during the early minutes against Dragons.
“Jaco is excited,” said Lions attacking coach Ricardo Laubscher on Friday, “and in terms of leadership he brings a lot to the table on and off the field.
“His experience will be invaluable. His energy this week - we can see there is a buzz, a composure - is exactly what we are looking for …
“It is better to start Jaco, versus off the bench,” Laubscher added. “We want everyone to have a good start against Scarlets and we think that he is the guy to do that.”
As revealed by Laubscher, Horn will be out of action for some time, although an exact recovery time was not forth-coming. Moreover, the injury to Horn will see Emmanuel Tshituka – usually preferred at flank – move to the back of the scrum, slipping on the No 8 jumper for the clash.
Your Emirates Lions team taking the field on Sunday against Scarlets in Round 9 of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship.
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Said Laubscher: “We are definitely going to miss Francke.
“We are talking about two different players with different strengths. Francke does attack work for us. He is brilliant with his footwork, keeping the ball alive, and with his anticipation in being in the right place at the right time.
“Manu is just physical, a hard runner around the corner. We are excited for Sunday just to see Manu get his hands on the ball and to get go-forward ball. Hopefully, he can make a few dents.”
The Lions were somewhat disjointed against the Dragons, and will have hoped that the match-experience and a week of training has shed most – if not all – of the ‘ringrust’ accrued during their November break.
Scarlets enjoy running the ball, although they have been woefully out of form this season – but are expected, nonetheless, to stick to that gameplan on firmer Highveld conditions.
Laubscher, meanwhile, agreed that the Lions were missing that cutting edge in attack, and revealed that the hiatus away from the game, and some ill judgement played a contributing factor.
“It was two-fold.
“It was definitely the break and we discussed that post-game. It is maybe something that we need to do better in terms of our planning. It was also down to decision-making …
“We were happy with the win obviously, but we weren’t happy with the performance. We felt that we had an opportunity against (Dragons) to spread the ball to our wings, and we couldn’t do that for some reason.
“Hopefully, on Sunday we will see a different picture. We are looking forward to seeing if we can put Scarlets under pressure with the ball in hand.”
Much like the visitors, the Joburgers will also be sticking to their guns by dominating up-front, and then attempting to run Scarlets ragged.
Emirates Lions starting XV: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Rabz Maxwane, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Marius Louw, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Jordan Hendrikse, 9 Sanele Nohamba, 8 Emmanuel Tshituka, 7 Darrien Landsberg, 6 Jaco Kriel, 5 Reinhard Nothnagel (capt), 4 Ruben Schoeman, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 PJ Botha, 1 Sti Sithole
Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 JP Smith, 18 Asenathi Ntlanakanye, 19 Ruan Venter, 20 Sibusiso Sangweni, 21 Andre Warner 22, Gianni Lombard, 23 Zander du Plessis
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