The Pumas crushed the Bulls 63-15 at Fortress Loftus this past Sunday, while the Lions came unstuck at home 44-28 against a well-drilled Western Province unit. Both results were surprising.
Johannesburg – Traditionally, before an encounter between the Pumas and the Lions you wouldn’t say that it is the Nelspruit-based team who are the pre-match favourites to sweep aside their more illustrious neighbours in the Currie Cup.
The Pumas crushed the Bulls 63-15 at Fortress Loftus this past Sunday, while the Lions came unstuck at home 44-28 against a well-drilled Western Province unit. Both results were surprising, the defending champions complete mauling of the Pretoria-based side more so.
Moreover, the Lions lost both matches against their eastern neighbours last season – 50-9 and 45-10.
Nevertheless, and despite the recent early set-back in the opening weekend last week and their 2022 record, Darrien Landsberg remains positive that the Lions have the self-belief to travel to Mbombela Stadium on Friday afternoon (kick-off 5pm) and overcome the challenge.
Lock Landsberg knows a thing or two about the Pumas, having played for them during 2020 and 2022. He was a part of the Currie Cup-winning squad last year, playing a handful of matches for Jimmy Stonehouse’s team. Moreover, he started against the Joburgers in that 50-9 demolition at Emirates Airline Park.
On Tuesday, the 24-year-old gave some insights into what to expect in this weekend.
“It is going to be an up-front battle” he said.
“(Stonehouse) is a very tough coach and he instils that into all his players. Watching them this weekend, it was a completely different Pumas outfit to when I was there.
“They are playing a lot more expansively. They love to play unstructured rugby.
“We must match them physically up-front. I think if that battle is settled between the forwards, then it will be up to our back to run them off their feet.
“We are also a team that loves to run with the ball and slowly, but surely, we are getting back to that DNA and wanting to play on our terms …
“It will be on us manning up, stopping their physicality, and taking them out of that unstructured play. They don’t mind defending for 15 phases, while hoping their opposition makes a mistake so that they can capitalise on that.
“We need to keep the ball, making sure that when we are running, we are direct, we are dominant in our carries, and then take them wide.”
From that perspective, it seems then that the Lions – under head coach Mzwakhe Nkosi – have done their homework. The Pumas were devastatingly good against the Bulls, winning the battle up-front first before moving the ball out wide at pace.
They gave the Bulls no opportunity to set their defensive lines, constantly shifting the contact point, while cleaning out the rucks speedily. They lost only one of those battles for a 98% ruck success and were also rewarded for powerful set-piece play.
It unleashed their backs to play with verve and flair, scything through a fractured Bulls to dot down nine tries.
The Lions, meanwhile, failed to impose their will on WP up-front – their maul defence a symptom of their woes during the encounter – which set them up for defeat. They will have to be much-more belligerent on Friday if they are to wrestle the initiative away from their hosts.
This, along with their discipline – Landsberg agreed – was a major focal point in their preparations this week.
“If the Pumas did their homework,” Landsberg mused, “they will see there was a weakness in the mauls.
“I think that we have come together this week, we have done our video analysis, we’ve trained very hard, and we know where we struggled. We have put a lot of emphasis and a lot of work into those areas that we have struggled with and I think that we have prepared very well for this week …
“We are going to Mbombela with a lot of confidence,” he concluded.
