Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen has spoken about the loss of Carlu Sadie and Vincent Tshituka to the Sharks, and Wandisile Simelane to the Bulls.
Johannesburg — The Lions have lost some big-name players during the off-season, and coach Ivan van Rooyen is not afraid to admit it.
The Johannesburg-based team will be without the services of tighthead Carlu Sadie, loose forward Vincent Tshituka — both to the Sharks; and outside-centre Wandisile Simelane to the Bulls in the new season of the United Rugby Championship starting next weekend.
Nevertheless, Van Rooyen revealed his confidence that his team has the playing personnel to fill the void left behind by those three individuals.
The loss of Sadie and Vincent, in particular, will have been a blow to the pack prowess of the Lions, who enjoy dominating that set-piece in both attack and defence. But Van Rooyen expressed a belief that a productive off-season will negate their absence in the coming weeks.
“We have a lot of pride in our scrum, so losing Carlu as probably your No 1 tighthead is a big loss. Losing Vincent as probably your No 1 ball carrier is a big loss and losing 'Wandi' as your main X-factor is a big loss,” said Van Rooyen at the launch of the 2022-23 URC season in Midrand on Tuesday.
“We brought in Ruan Smith at tighthead and it is also time for Asenathi (Ntlanakanye) to come through. I think between (twin brothers) JP (Smith) and Ruan there is a special chemistry there …
“It was unfortunate losing Vince, but now it is time for someone like Emmanuel — his brother; and Ruhan Straueli and Ruan Venter, who is a massive ball carrier for us, to do well.”
Simelane’s departure, meanwhile, will arguably be less felt. As talented and skilled as the 24-year-old is, he tended to be quite mercurial in the last two seasons for the Lions.
A move northward to Pretoria, hopefully, might reinvigorate his form as it had somewhat stalled at Ellis Park. With the outside centre now no longer in the picture, there is a bevy of players jostling to take over that starting berth, as pointed out by Van Rooyen.
“Henco Venter is a potential future Springbok, so, it is good for him to be in there. Someone like Quan (Horn) can bring a different approach to No 13 for us,” Van Rooyen said.
“Sango Xamlashe, who is on loan from Griquas, has a lot of X-factor. Then there are the juniors like Tyler Bocks and Zander du Plessis, not to mention (new signing) Marius Louw.
"So, we have a good mixture of young, exciting centres. It is their opportunity now and we are confident that they can fulfil that role for us and bring something different.
“You never want to lose the three players that we lost, but I think we have good replacements for them.”
The Lions start their new URC campaign next Saturday with a Trans-Jukskei derby against the Bulls at Ellis Park. They then depart for a European tour to face Ospreys, Cardiff, Edinbrugh and Ulster.
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