Earl Rose, one of the most talked about rugby players for quite a while now. is eventually getting a crack at the lions, and it's in the position Springbok coach Peter De Villiers (and he) feel he is best suited to. Rose didn't get much game time at all (be it flyhalf or fullback) in the Super 14, so a rusty player, out of form slots into the most vital position on the field (sorry second; Mr Vickery tighthead is the most important position) inside Morgan Newman who has played a handful of games for the Stormers and he is supposed to win a place in the test side? The odds seem heavily stacked against them, but maybe, like the tourists, he can rise above expectation and shock us all by putting in a match winning performance. If this performance involves defense he is surely to lose, however if we by some miracle see running rugby at a soggy Newlands tomorrow night he might just prove us wrong.
The rest of the team field are basically the best of the rest from the Super 14. The exclusion and inclusion of Peter Grant and Willem De Waal respectively is one that doesn't reward form -or even potential. Players getting a second crack at the tourists include: Deon van Rensburg, Morgan Newman, Bjorn Basson, Jano Vermaak, Duane Vermeulen, Jean Deysel, Steven Sykes, Wian du Preez, Tiaan Liebenberg, Jauques Botes, Willem de Waal, and Danwel Demas. These are some quality players who would make most Northern Hemisphere Test teams and have already had a look at what the Lions have to offer. The captaincy of Dewald Potgieter will be interesting to watch. A rising star in South African rugby and still very young, Potgieter will want to show thee world that maybe he's the next Schalk Burger.
The Lions team is comprised of the usual midweekers. The convict Earls gets another start on a tour he maybe never should have been on, Delon Armitage or maybe a bone to Chris Patterson for all his hard work, would have suited the tourists better. Andy Powell who hasn't made the impact everyone thought he would, barring the bone shattering hit on Duane Vermulen, will pack down behind the scrum and we are sure to see him run from the base. O'Gara takes the consolation prise of a Lions captaincy over a starting birth for the test team and one feels this is his chance to prove his worth and I'm sure so does he. The battle of the flyhalfs will either make or break the spectacle of this game. Shane who? Starts on the wing and we are yet to see him make one telling impact in the tour. It baffles the mind to think he was the best player (voted so by the IRB) in the world last year and this year he'd have trouble stepping your gran with the bad hip. Harry Ellis has looked good, but no one will oust Philips at the moment. The bench looks a little like the bench for the test matches; the inbetweeners who will always be on standby, but actually will go away from a 10 match tour without a heap of game time.
And so i say to all you fans out there. Who will? I don't know. Who deserves to win? You know. And who always wins? Rugby! peace
sgr
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