JOHANNESBURG - As if facing the defending champions and the only New Zealand team they didn’t manage to beat last year wasn’t hard enough, the Lions will now also have to contend with returning Hurricanes skipper Dane Coles this weekend.
And the hooker is sure to have plenty of bottled-up energy, fizzing to be released after spending several weeks on the sidelines which also resulted in him missing the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of facing the British and Irish Lions in a Test series.
The energetic No 2, widely regarded as the best in the business, returned to action for the Canes in their quarter-final win against the Brumbies in Canberra last weekend, but that was from off the bench; this week, in the semi-final in Johannesburg he’s set to start - for the first time since mid-March. He had been out with concussion problems and also a calf injury.
A fit Coles, who led his team to the Super Rugby title in Wellington for the first time following their 20-3 win against the Lions last year, will come up against hometown hero Malcolm Marx, and what a duel that promises to be.
Coles’ addition to the starting team will give the Lions just a little more to think about as they look to beat the visitors for the first time since 2007 and exact some revenge on them for doing the double on them last year; the Canes won 50-17 in the regular season and then also triumphed comfortably in the wet and cold in the final.
But it’s not only Coles who’s likely to make a return for the Hurricanes this week; joint top try-scorer Vince Aso is also expected to be back in the matchday squad after being sidelined for the last three weeks due to a minor groin tear.
Four months out of the game and this is how Dane Coles returned to action with @Hurricanesrugby... pic.twitter.com/u2vS3TwsPg
— Super Rugby (@SuperRugbyNZ) July 25, 2017
Where he slots in though will be interesting because Ngani Laumape and Jordie Barrett have performed well at centre of late, while Julian Savea and Wes Goosen have been stars on the wings and then there’s fit-again Nehe Milner-Skudder to consider as well.
Add TJ Perenara and Beauden Barrett as the half-backs and you realise coach Chris Boyd has got himself a very nice selection dilemma. All Black wing Cory Jane didn’t even make the starting team against the Brumbies.
Assistant Canes coach and former Sharks boss John Plumtree told the www.stuff.co.nz website that Coles would probably start in his 100th appearance.
“There’s a good chance you’ll see him start,” said Plumtree. “He’s good to go, he’s got that old spark back and is pretty motivated obviously.”
If Aso, who has scored 14 tries in Super Rugby - the same as his centre teammate Laumape - is fit and moves into the centres then Jordie will move to fullback, according to Plumtree.
“His long-kicking game in Johannesburg is going to be useful but also his ability to diffuse that high-kicking game that we’d expect from Elton Jantjies and Ross Cronje. So, for this game we’d be more excited about Jordie playing fullback,” said Plumtree.
Boyd said his team were looking forward to playing at Ellis Park. “To play the Lions at a packed Ellis Park, I think we’d be pretty stimulated by that."
Boyd, like his opposite number, Johan Ackermann of the Lions, will name his team on Thursday. Ackermann is expected to stick with the same starting XV that faced the Sharks last weekend, which will mean another appearance from off the bench for dynamic centre Rohan Janse van Rensburg.