Lions poised to name new captain ahead of Currie Cup final

The Lions will name a new captain this week when they unveil their matchday 23 for the Currie Cup final against the Griquas on Saturday at Ellis Park (kick-off 3pm).

Hooker PJ Botha, who led the Joburgers in their semi-final rout of Boland Kavaliers, will miss the game due to a knee injury. That will surely see Franco Marias start in the No 2 jumper for the final, as Jaco Visagie is also battling injury.

Currie Cup coach Mzwakhe Nkosi, however, is confident that the team has a strong leadership core to call upon come the final, as he and the technical team ponder their skipper options.

“We’ve got a couple of candidates,” said Nkosi on Wednesday, at the Lions Awards at Ellis Park.

“Quan Horn is one of them. Chris Smith is also one of them. He has made a real impression from a leadership point of view. WJ Steenkamp has also made an impression, so we have one or two options.

“We will make up our minds in the next day or two. We’ve got to make sure the leadership group is one that can also take (head coach Ivan van Rooyen) and his United Rugby Championship (URC) group forward.”

With a final to prepare for, the imminent start of the URC remains next week’s concern. The greater Lions squad, however, has been quietly preparing for that campaign alongside the Currie Cup team. It speaks to a broader strategy to align the gameplan, while also ensuring that the Joburgers are ready for the upcoming franchise season.

It is a different path to the one taken by the Western Province, who were largely content with resting their first-choice players during this Cup campaign. The Bulls and Sharks, according to Nkosi, have followed a “hybrid” model more similar to the Lions, but arguably to a lesser degree.

Nkosi believes that the lessons learnt in the Cup and the match-fitness it has afforded the likes of SJ Kotze, Ruan Venter, Jarod Cairns, Nico Steyn, Chris Smith, Richard Kriel, Henco van Wyk, Angelo Davids and Quan Horn will be invaluable when the Lions start a four-match tour of Europe next weekend, starting with Cardiff.

“We saw it last season with us,” Nkosi explained, “when we had a really good Currie Cup run and that translated into the first half of the URC.

“The challenge for any franchise now is to manage all three competitions, namely the Currie Cup, URC and EPCR Challenge Cup. It’s challenging regarding injuries, game time, freshness and facing different opponents.

“Everyone is taking different approaches, but the proof will be in the pudding.”

The Lions ended the regular Cup season top of the log, winning five of their seven games – the same record as the Griquas – but will, nonetheless, be heavily favoured to win a 12th domestic title this weekend. Moreover, at the beginning of the month they comfortably dispatched the Kimberley-based side 37-7 and followed that up with a 67-19 mauling of Boland.

Looking back at the season and their road to a second consecutive Cup final, Nkosi expressed a degree of pride in his team’s efforts.

“It’s been a different Currie Cup,” Nkosi said. “We’ve had a bit of adversity in terms of injuries. We’ve had to bounce back. We’ve played an incredible young team at times and it was good. We’ve played some good rugby.

"We’ve scored the most tries (36), which has been pleasing for me, and we have been second to the Griquas in terms of tries conceded. It shows that we have a balanced approach, but more than anything there has been a revival of one or two key guys.”

Those players, according to Nkosi, include the aforementioned Steenkamp and Davids, but also the likes of Mannie Rass, Gianni Lombard and Lubabalo Dobela, which will not only have a positive impact this weekend’s final and also for the URC ahead.

Meanwhile, Springbok scrumhalf Morne van der Berg – freshly returned from national duty with the team in New Zealand – won the Lions Player of the Year Award.

‘Krappie’, who has three Tests to his name, will rejoin the Bok squad on Thursday in Durban for the final two matches of the tournament against Argentina at Kings Park and Twickenham from next weekend. Prop Asenathi Ntlabakanye, under a doping cloud, won the Players’ Player Award.