The Lions will welcome back flanker Wikus van Heerden to their side for this weekend’s Super 14 clash with the Reds at Coca-Cola Park.
Also
With the threatened protest match little more than a damp squib, Lions president Kevin de Klerk, CEO Manie Reyneke and commercial manager Andre Homan answered a list of questions form eight supporters on Wednesday.
Van Heerden returned from a stint at Saracens in England a few weeks ago and immediately had a run with the Golden Lions Vodacom Cup squad before the team returned from their overseas tour and will now begin his time at the Lions the only way he likes it – in the deep end.
“It’s a challenge, isn’t it?” Van Heerden said, “and I like challenges, especially the big ones. I started my career at the Lions and it’s time to give something back.”
Van Heerden is certain to be in the starting line-up when coach Dick Muir names his team on Thursday for the clash, but has already seen the difference since his last stint several years ago in the Lions setup.
“I really haven’t been with the team that long, but I can say they are incredibly positive in the team setup and they are very optimistic about the last part of this year’s Super 14. There is a genuine feeling in the team that one win can turn things around for them but they need those small breaks in a game,” Van Heerden added.
“When you are in a team that isn’t winning, it makes it so much harder and you have to work much harder to get things going your way. The refs, the coaches and everyone looks at you differently, but if we can get that first win, then we can start building momentum for the rest of the season.”
Van Heerden concedes that the Lions need to bolster their defence, but says since he has been there; Muir has been working hard on correcting this aspect which has let the Johannesburg side down.
“The team works so hard to score spectacular tries, but then their opposition scores soft tries against them, so it is something we need to rectify,” he adds, “But Dick has spent the last few weeks on the defence and they are working very hard to get the balance right in the team. Hopefully it will be this week against the Reds.”
The former Lions captain made the choice in coming back to South Africa mainly due to his family, but felt Muir’s team was the best place for him to offer something back, especially with the Bulls overflowing with loose forward talent.
“Honestly, I came back mainly for my family,” he quips, “I have two young sons and the climate in England was one of the main reasons. Also when I left the Lions for the Bulls, Kevin de Klerk was one of the guys who came to see me and he was also one of the reasons I came back.
“I also had a chat to Dick when the Springboks were at Saracens last year and it sounded exciting to hear his plans. It sounded like an unbelievable challenge for me at this stage of my career. Since getting back, I’ve seen the talent there is at Vodacom Cup level and the potential is there.”
Manie Reyneke and commercial manager Andre Homan answered a list of questions form eight supporters on Wednesday.
The Lions, winless after seven Super 14 matches this season, will be appointing a defence coach within the next few days as well as someone looking after the coaching structures in the union.
Importantly, they will probably – like all the other Super 14 franchises – obtain a partner in the GLRU as well.
With the threatened protest match little more than a damp squib, Lions president Kevin de Klerk, CEO Manie Reyneke and commercial manager Andre Homan answered a list of questions form eight supporters on Wednesday.
The appointment of the two experts to assist with the Lions defence and structuring as well as the financial backing from SA Investments Limited – a listed company also supporting other unions – were the main points to build the union in the future to come out of the meeting.
Concerns about the contracting of players were answered honestly and the system explained.
Qualms about the continued use of Earl Rose were addressed through one of the written answers of head coach Dick Muir on a list of questions offered.
The way forward for the Lions, with the emphasis on building a structure that will ensure continuity such as the Bulls have established, was given by the GLRU representatives.
O flok Wikus, hulle het jou gebrainspool….
Ja GBS die man klink positief maar positiewiteit kan jou heel oorweldig. Maar kom ons hoop hulle kry die inspirasie om die Reds te stamp. Al is dit net so dat hul nie n bonuspunt weggee nie.
Never bet against the home team, the Lions just might win this Saturday. One should never believes in miracles, just trust in it.
dWeePer, whow they will copy your words and post it on their site, they like positive thoughts. At least they started to listen or did they, they havent lost last week witch is 100% better than the Bulls.
Jisja, enigiemand tuis?
5@ Pietman – Naand Barman!
Eks daar op die krieket thread besig, naand ou vriend.
superbul
Wat is hierdie nuwe WP-site?
Dit kom elke slag op met ‘Bing search’ as ek hier probeer inlog op my selfoon, is dit Isidingi se site?
Nee shucks ek weet nie maar dis baie stil daar, sien min aktiwiteit daar. Ek was nooit geban op voldys nie maar het al 2 bannings agter die blad, op ons oud vriende se plekke.
Ed is in SA en gaan Coke blik toe die naweek.
I wonder who the 8 wise men where.
I read it on a Lions site so there must be a few of them that went there. I wonder if there was any former Tranvaal icons there. We used Frik du Preez when we started our protest. Taking the Rugby Player of the century as leader gave us a lot of muscle. Hope that they did not go with mickey mouse people there.
The whole idea is right, we(Bulls) did it , i just hope they did not do it in haste. Hope they had the guts to show Dick Muir the sword or rope like we did to Heynecke Meyer. If not they are the joke of the day.
We will hear a few stories in the next few days.
Wikus must have HATED the UK to return to the Lions. Or someone threw huge money at him.
When days ar dark, friends are few!!!
Why are there no fellow Lions supporters here on RT asking the right questions?
If we (yes I am a Lions supporter) are too conceited to accept critisism, and also to giver it to our Union and it’s leaders in an open forum such as this here, we deserve all we get.
It doesn’t help that we all scurry away to our dark little cave (another Lions site) and plot to take over the (Rugby) world without even bothering to find out what the world is like.
I as a Lion supporter challenge those skulking elsewhere to come and accept the world’s views on our team, give their opinions, and grow up a little in the process.
Get your heads out from wherever you’ve shoved them guys.
The Lions need to see the reality of the world, not just the suburbs around Doornfontein.
I’ll take up this challenge a bit more later.
Goeie speler. Jammer dat hy sy rugby loopbaan op so n noot sal moet afsluit. Wat die Lions betref, ek se weer, dis nie die afrigter of spelers nie, raak van “daai trio” onslae. Dis nou daai lot in die kantore. Hulle is die probleem.
The story about the concerned Lions supporters who were about to meet with Lions management was on the radio day before yesterday already, but nowhere on the web. I heard it on 94.7 Highveld Stereo whilst driving around Pretoria on Tuesday late afternoon.
I saw it on News 24, yesterday late the whole article is in green above.
OK, I’ve edited some comments on this thread… please my friends, let’s not have any more “slagging off” of other rival Lions web sites here… it does nothing for Rugby-Talk, in fact it only serves to widen the devide between people who are supposed to have respect for each other.
They are welcome here and of course they are welcome to have their own web sites. Let’s be adult about the matter even if the same courtesy is not extended in return.
We are way past the squabbles of the previous web site that we abandoned to come and form Rugby-Talk.. and that’s the way it should stay.
The WORLD MUST BE WELCOME here on Rugby-Talk, as long as they respect the ethos of this web site!
Lions coach Dick Muir seems to have lost confidence in Springbok fullback Earl Rose.
That is the clear message after Rose was immediately dispatched back to the Vodacom Cup side for Friday’s game against the Pumas.
Rose has trodden a fine line on defence of late, and his displays on tour were less than impressive for a player who should be used to playing at international level. Rose will turn out at flyhalf alongside another Super 14 discard, it seems, as JP Joubert has also been sent back to the Vodacom Cup side to hone his skills.
But the duo are not the only ones. Winger Tonderai Chavhanga, flank Robert Kruger and prop Kevin Buys all find themselves out of the match 22 for the Lions Super 14 side and on duty in the lower competition.
The absence of Wikus van Heerden signals a return to Super 14 action for the former Lions captain.
Jonathan Mokuena, who has recovered from injury, will make his way back onto the field via a second half appearance from the bench.
Lions Vodacom Cup team:
15. Wian Buys, 14. Tonderai Chavhanga, 13. Rouan Cloete, 12. Pieter Engelbrecht, 11. Henno Mentz, 10. Earl Rose, 9. JP Joubert, 8. Justin Wheeler, 7. Robert Kruger, 6. Jaco Kriel, 5. Wouter Moore, 4. Jannes Labuschagne (captain), 3. Kevin Buys, 2. Charles Emslie, 1. Lawrence Sephaka
Substitutes: 16. Martin Bezuidenhout, 17. Charl du Plessis, 18. David Bulbring, 19. Jonathan Mokuena, 20. Chris Jonck, 21. Justin St. Jerry, 22. Bernardo Botha
Ok, Let me try again without offending anyone who may be unable to take criticism, and in so doing upset my Webmonster who then sees fit to write comments in red in response.
After laying awake from 03h30 this morning it eventually began to dawn on me that us Lions supporters are indeed a strange breed.
We haven’t won a major trophy (unless we consider the Vodacom Cup to be of any significance) for more than a decade.
We haven’t ended higher than 3rd from bottom in Super Rugby since making the semi’s (with a New Zealander as coach) in 2001 as either the Cats or the Lions.
According to the article above, (as well as the GLRU website) “The way forward for the Lions, with the emphasis on building a structure that will ensure continuity such as the Bulls have established, was given by the GLRU representatives.”
The same story which we swallow hook line & sinker year after year.
We accept mediocrity, we accept the lame excuses, and we allow the “guardians” of something which we supposedly hold dear to tell us half truths which we believe.
Isn’t it time to stand up and be counted?
!18
AMEN.
Scrumdown i wish we can get more info on the way they aproached GLRU. This sentence(“With the threatened protest match little more than a damp squib, Lions president Kevin de Klerk, CEO Manie Reyneke and commercial manager Andre Homan answered a list of questions form eight supporters on Wednesday”) talk about it , so it happened. But it sounds fishy if it was not in the open, was it another secret meeting?
With the threatened protest match little more than a damp squib, Lions president Kevin de Klerk, CEO Manie Reyneke and commercial manager Andre Homan answered a list of questions form eight supporters on Wednesday.
I said it from the beginning of the year that i worry about my neighbor, and would love to see the old players union to bring back the pride to a big union.
Maybe the trouble started when Louis Luyt started his own private kingdom and no one can break that exclusive club. Since Luyt the Top hierarchy is to entrenched and they play the tune and the rest must dance.
superBul @ 19
Maybe the GLRU gave each of the 8 supporters 4 complimentary tickets each for Sat’s match, thereby cunningly increasing the expected live audience 4 fold and so stunning the Reds into a malaise that would enable the Lions to run rings around them.
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