Lions ‘grinders’ must stop Ospreys to unleash Edwill and Co

IF the Lions thought the Ospreys were easy prey in last year’s United Rugby Championship, then they will have to rethink that mindset ahead of tonight’s clash in Swansea (8.35pm SA time kickoff).

The Johannesburg outfit ran in seven tries in a comprehensive 45-15 victory over the Ospreys last season, but there were significant mitigating factors for the Welsh club.

Not only were they playing at Ellis Park for the first time, most of their top Test figures were involved with the national team in the Six Nations at the time.

George North, Justin Tipuric, Alun Wyn Jones, Adam Beard, Tomas Francis, and Scott Baldwin did not feature in March’s encounter, and will be keen to return the favour to Ivan van Rooyen’s Lions on their home ground.

The visitors themselves will be missing three seniors from that memorable display – centres Burger Odendaal and Wandisile Simelane, as well as blindside flank Vincent Tshituka – who have all moved on to other teams.

But most of tonight’s starters were involved, and will be confident that they can topple the Ospreys once more.

The biggest test for Van Rooyen’s side will be to win enough possession at the line-outs and breakdowns against the likes of Jones, Beard and Tipuric, while the front row of Nicky Smith, Scott Baldwin and Tomas Francis are all highly experienced internationals.

There are enough “grinders” such as Sti Sithole, PJ Botha, Ruben Schoeman and Sibusiso Sangweni in the Lions pack, though, who won’t take a step back.

Forwards coach Albert van den Berg said this week that the big men have worked hard on rectifying their errors from last week’s 31-15 defeat to the Bulls at Ellis Park.

“It was just individual mistakes we made – soft penalties that we gave away in the second half. There were a couple of technical things we worked on, especially in the scrums and lineouts, to ensure everyone understands their roles and execute their roles,” the former Springbok lock said.

“Looking at the Ospreys, we’ve addressed that and have a training session coming up today where we will walk through that, and everyone understands their roles. Then we will see if we can get them to execute it against the Ospreys.

“Last year they came to play us when the Six Nations was on, so we were fortunate not to get some of the big names in their team.

“Coming over (to Wales) this time, they are all available. We did look at them and did our homework and studied the videos, and prepared well for it. It’s an opportunity for our guys to show what they can do against them.”

If the Lions can at least achieve parity in the battle for possession, they have the weapons in the backline to trouble the Ospreys.

Halfbacks Sanele Nohamba and Gianni Lombard are lethal when they get front-foot ball, and wings Edwill van der Merwe and Quan Horn have the speed and skill to evade the defence.