Cape Town - Western Province have spent the week fortifying the Currie Cup’s most impregnable defensive wall in anticipation of a ground attack, but the Lions are fuelling up for an air strike at Ellis Park on Saturday (kick-off 5.05pm).
“We’re focusing on executing our own processes”, is how most coaches and players glibly respond to questions about potential threats from an opponent.
This insular outlook may explain why, after five rounds, few have come to grips with the fact that running the ball at Province is a shortcut to Loser Lane.
Province and the Stormers have been backing their defence to win games since Rassie Erasmus arrived in 2007. Johan Ackermann is coming round to the idea.
“You have to be careful because if you run at Western Province and (they) turn it over; they will punish you,” the Lions coach said this week.
Ackermann didn’t have much choice when the sides met at Newlands in the third round. Elton Jantjies’ departure for club rugby in Japan, coupled with injuries to Marnitz Boshoff and Jaco van der Walt, saw the Lions slink into Cape Town without a flyhalf.
Strike-running outside centre Stokkies Hanekom made a go of it at No 10, kicking three times less than Demetri Catrakilis before their 27-14 reverse.
“We didn’t kick enough at Newlands,” Ackermann conceded. The gravity of the lesson didn’t quite sink in because, one week later, the Lions barely needed to kick at all as they feasted on the hapless EP Kings in Port Elizabeth.
The Blue Bulls gave Ackermann’s pride a refresher course at Loftus Versfeld in the fifth round. The hosts carried the ball a third as much as their Highveld rivals and scored three tries to two in a 36-26 win.
The point hasn’t escaped Ackermann. He now recognises that the Lions, who lead the Currie Cup in ball carries, are fighting to keep their place in the top half of the standings while Province, who lead the competition in tackles, are the unbeaten log leaders.
“We will have more confidence in our kicking game this weekend,” he said. “Defensively, Western Province are one of the best sides in the competition.”
“Stokkies did his best (in Cape Town), but it’s necessary to have a specialist flyhalf to direct the team,” said Lions fullback Andries Coetzee.
“It’s much easier to kick the ball up here (on the Highveld), and we would like to make a statement and win this game.”
In the third round, any plans the Lions had to kick the ball would have been formulated around the risk of a skewed punt finding its way to Seabelo Senatla.
The blazing WP finisher who has since been ruled out with an ankle injury, has been replaced by Pat Howard. This gives a tactically reinforced Lions outfit less to fear from their opponents’ back three.
Their deep introspection is probably the reason why Province haven’t noticed the Lions’ manoeuvres.
“What is required of us is to be defensively as strong as we were in the first game, because we will be tested,” said WP coach Allister Coetzee. “They’re not scared to have a go with ball in hand.”
The expectation that the Lions will cough up the ball with a run-first game plan is what drove Coetzee to tool up for slick attack from broken play, with exciting playmaker Kurt Coleman replacing Catrakilis.
The presence of scrumhalf Louis Schreuder does give WP a capable tactician at the base of the scrum, but they may rue Catrakilis’ exclusion if the Lions shelve their ball-hugging tactics and follow through with an aerial assault.
“There’s a lot to play for this weekend,” added Ackermann, noting that a win for the log leaders would effectively put them out of reach on the standings.
Success at Ellis Park will see this Province team reach rare heights.
In the fourth round, they became the first WP outfit since 1984 to win in Pretoria in back-to-back seasons. If they win on Saturday, it will be the first time since 1998 that Province have done the Highveld double, winning at Loftus Versfeld and Ellis Park.
Weekend Argus