JOHANNESBURG – Veteran Springbok loose forward Willem Alberts has finally put pen to paper and will play for the Lions this season.
And, 2007 Rugby World Cup winner, tighthead prop Jannie du Plessis, will stay at the Lions and play Super Rugby this year after his former club, Montpellier, had requested he return to France to fill in at the injury-hit club.
Alberts, 35, has joined his former team in Joburg after turning out for Stade Francais on 79 occasions in the last four years.
Before that he played for five seasons with the Sharks and between 2005 and 2009 turned out for the Lions. He will be officially unveiled as a Lions player in the coming days.
While the Lions have retained the services of the experienced Du Plessis, who’ll fight it out with rookie Carlu Sadie for the No 3 jersey this year, they have had to give up another tighthead prop, Johannes Jonker, to Montpellier.
The 25-year-old arrived in France yesterday and will fill in as a medical joker at Montpellier, who have lost Mohamed Haouas to the France team for the Six Nations, while Antoine Guillamone has a long-term hamstring injury.
It will be Jonker’s second stint at the French club, having also fulfilled a stand-in role at the end of 2017 - incidentally for the then injured Du Plessis.
In some good news for the Lions, the franchise confirmed yesterday that they are in discussions to bring former captain and flank Jaco Kriel back to Joburg from Gloucester, where he has played for the last two seasons.
Kriel has endured an injury-plagued stay in England, playing for Johan Ackermann’s club, but could be back in action by March.
He is currently nursing an injury.
Also, seasoned fullback Andries Coetzee has returned to the Lions following his short stint playing in Japan.
He will, however, not feature for the Lions in their Super Rugby opener against the Jaguares in Buenos Aires this weekend.
Also, not in the mix this week are exciting centre Wandisile Simelane and wing Jamba Ulengo. They may come into contention for next week’s game against the Reds in Joburg.
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/LionsPride?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LionsPride pic.twitter.com/hd8KxkDytd
— Emirates Lions (@LionsRugbyCo)
The Lions yesterday announced their 25-man squad for the match this weekend.
While flyhalf Elton Jantjies, who led the side on Super Hero Sunday against the Bulls, hasn’t officially been named captain, he looks to be the favourite to captain the team on Saturday.
Lions touring squad
Backs:
Tiaan Swanepoel, Courtnall Skosan, Tyrone Green, Shaun Reynolds, Manny Rass, Dan Kriel, Duncan Matthews, Elton Jantjies, Andre Warner, Morne van den Berg
Forwards:
Ruan Vermaak, Vincent Tshituka, Marnus Schoeman, Ruben Schoeman, Len Massyn, Hacjivah Dayimani, Marvin Orie, Wilhelm van der Sluys, Jannie du Plessis, Carlu Sadie, Sti Sithole, Frans van Wyk, Dylan Smith, Jan-Henning Campher, Pieter Jansen