The men from Ellis Park’s former mentor gives a surprisingly sunny verdict on their chances in Super Rugby this year.Former head coach Swys de Bruin had this to say when approached on the prospects of the Lions’ Super Rugby campaign this year: “Rebuilding? What rebuilding?” De Bruin, who was succeeded by Cash van Rooyen ahead of the 2020 season, believes the team could benefit from the building blocks which were put in place last year. “I don’t think they are rebuilding any more this year. I think that already happened last year,” De Bruin said in the build-up to the Lions’ Superhero Sunday warm-up match against the Bulls this weekend.
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But in principle I agree with the sentiment. We blooded a number of youngsters last year already and it is more a case of developing them further this year, with the help of the senior players including the new recruits like Doc Jannie, Roelof and Willem (assuming he passes his fitness tests). And gradually feed in the rookies to blood them as well.
It will be interesting to see how Cash goes about it this year. Hopefully not doing massive team changes from game to game like Swys did. Cash has worked with these players for two Currie Cup seasons already and should know them well enough to have a good idea how he ranks them in his plans |