Anything is possible

When it gets cold, you can go inside or you can put a jacket on. Which will the Lion's choose? They ended off well against the Boks, forget about the first 50 minutes, the mental edge will be with the Lions come Saturday afternoon. If they (the Lions) can pick up where they left off last Saturday then they could pull it off...and then we're off to Ellis Park for the “final”. The Boks will have this pressure added to a very demanding public, an interesting coach and the knowledge that because of 12 years ago: defeat is NOT and option. As usual there is nothing to loose forthe underdogs and almost nothing to gain for the champs, because if they beat them then everyone will say “we were supposed to beat them, big whoop!”.

Altitude will play a factor in the game and so will home support. That being said we saw more red than green last Saturday, MM covered that, I don't wanna talk about it, but the Boks will still be very very strong. They will have found their groove and the psychological boost of having Schalk Burger back could take them to the same unstoppable rugby we saw from the Bulls in the back end of the Super 14. Ruan's kicking is on song, Steyn will be better (safer) at the back and Habbana will be back to his best. Why they persist with Jacobs is a South African problem, one we cannot comprehend, but expect Jaque Fourie earlier than last week and De Villiers to stay on the field. The Springbok side chosen is almost as strong as it gets and on paper they should crush the Lions, but rugby is a funny game and the bounce of the oval ball very unpredictable.

Up front the Lions will have to show more aggression, especially in stopping the rolling mauls (Simon Shaw brought in for just that reason), in the scrums they need a complete overhaul. The tight five picked for this match, with an all Welsh front row, should fare better against the Beast. The irony of course being that it was the Springbok scrum, with a hooker playing tighthead, that would be weak and crumble under the weight of quality Northern Hemisphere rugby. Last Saturday's game showed that it is in the backs that the Lions have the edge, or maybe just the time spent together on all the warm up games has helped them gel better than the relatively new combinations of the Boks. Jean DE Villiers assures us that it was rustiness that let the Lions back into the game and that the defense this week will be better. is hard to see how it will get better when you have a player with an injured shoulder (which also happens to be the part of the body you tackle with) going in to contact half-heartedly. Roberts and O'Driscoll will be the danger men, if there is to be an upset it will revolve around them. The forwards just need to find parity to unleash these two quality players and its up to Bakkies Botha and the returned Schalk Burger to stop them.

One hopes we see more running rugby from the Springbok back three, but don;t count on it. They will probablyplay for territory again and only run from their opponents half. Ruan Pienaar will bee looking to build on his impressive start last weekend and the fans are just hoping that he will blossom into a world class flyhalf and someone who could help secure a third Tri-nations trophy for South Africa.

The kick-off is at 3pm CAT up at Loftus in Pretoria. I hope that if you are'nt going to the match you will be watching on the T.V or stream it live to your laptop. Peace be to you and your family. Enjoy.

Sgr

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