Can Kriel help Lions outflank Scarlets?

FAN favourite and darling of ‘The Park’, Jaco Kriel, will finally make his debut in this URC season for the Emirates Lions against Scarlets this weekend – a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.

The Springbok flank will start at the side of the scrum tomorrow at Emirates Airline Park (kick-off 1.30pm), packing down alongside a reshuffled loose trio that will also see the debut of Darrien-Lane Landsberg.

Kriel has endured several weeks out due to a leg injury, but has recovered in time to slot in at No 6 after form player Francke Horn limped off last week during the early minutes against Dragons.

“Jaco is excited,” said Lions attacking coach Ricardo Laubscher yesterday, “and in terms of leadership he brings a lot to the table, on and off the field.

“His experience will be invaluable. His energy this week – we can see there is a buzz, a composure – is exactly what we are looking for …

“It is better to start Jaco, versus off the bench,” Laubscher added. “We want everyone to have a good start against Scarlets, and we think that he is the guy to do that.”

The injury to Horn will see Emmanuel Tshituka – usually preferred at flank – move to the back of the scrum, slipping on the No 8 jersey for the clash.

Said Laubscher: “We are definitely going to miss Francke.

“We are talking about two different players with different strengths. Francke does attack work for us. He is brilliant with his footwork, keeping the ball alive, and with his anticipation in being in the right place at the right time.

“Manu is just physical, a hard runner around the corner. We are excited for Sunday just to see Manu get his hands on the ball and to get go-forward ball. Hopefully, he can make a few dents.”

Scarlets enjoy running the ball, although they have been woefully out of form this season – but are expected, nonetheless, to stick to that game plan on firmer Highveld conditions.

Laubscher, meanwhile, agreed that the Lions were missing that cutting edge in attack, and revealed that the November break, and some bad judgement were contributing factors.

“It was two-fold,” he said.

“It was definitely the break, and we discussed that post-game. It is maybe something that we need to do better in terms of our planning. It was also down to decision-making …

“We were happy with the win obviously, but we weren’t happy with the performance. We felt that we had an opportunity against (Dragons) to spread the ball to our wings, and we couldn’t do that for some reason.

“Hopefully, on Sunday we will see a different picture. We are looking forward to seeing if we can put Scarlets under pressure with the ball in hand.”

Emirates Lions starting XV:

15 Quan Horn, 14 Rabz Maxwane, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Marius Louw, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Jordan Hendrikse, 9 Sanele Nohamba, 8 Emmanuel Tshituka, 7 Darrien-Lane Landsberg, 6 Jaco Kriel, 5 Reinhard Nothnagel (capt), 4 Ruben Schoeman, 3 Ruan Dreyer,

2 PJ Botha, 1 Sti Sithole;

Replacements:

16 Jaco Visagie, 17 JP Smith, 18 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 19 Ruan Venter, 20 Sibusiso Sangweni, 21 Andre Warner, 22 Gianni Lombard, 23 Zander du Plessis