Lions back Hurricanes for upset win
Lions back Hurricanes for upset win
That is supposing the Lions can see off the Waratahs in their semifinal on Sunday morning.
De Bruin joked with South African media after the Lions beat the Jaguares 40-23 in their quarterfinal that he would be sending Hurricanes coach Chris Boyd, an old mate of his after they worked together at the Sharks’ academy in Durban, a message of support to knock over the favoured Crusaders.
Home ground advantage was behind de Bruin’s thinking.
“Home ground advantage is vital, that is why we just have to keep pushing game and game and then hoping that the Hurricanes have a massive game,” he said.
Before getting too far ahead of himself, de Bruin acknowledged the threat the Waratahs would pose, in spite of having to travel to altitude in Johannesburg.
“They attack a bit different, their strength, and the way they attack from the edges is a bit different. They play from edge to edge a lot and vary a lot with the kicks where the Jaguares don’t kick so much.
“What the Waratahs do as well, they have a lot of international players and have cool heads. Like against the Highlanders, they were down and out and just came back. The yellow card helped them, but we anticipate a Waratahs team that will be up there,” he said.
Rule #1. Don’t give Israel Folau this much space…
REPORT + HIGHLIGHTS: https://t.co/wQb0WhHDDg#WARvHIG pic.twitter.com/4JvawfVf5X— Super Rugby (@SuperRugbyNZ) July 21, 2018
The strength of the Waratahs’ back three was similar to the Jaguares and they had managed to shut them down in the quarterfinal.
“It is a matter of killing their space and making sure they don’t get enough time to counter attack. We will have to up the tempo though. At stages I thought it was a slow pace and the air is thin up here, so we have to up,” he said.
Having reached the semifinals was an achievement in itself for the Lions because for a period of the season they had to compete without the core of their side, the coach said.
No.8 and captain Warren Whitely was out, hooker Malcolm Marx was injured and stand-in captain and flanker Jaco Kriel was also out.
“The other guys put their hands up. They took flak and criticism but I want to compliment the coaching staff for how they just work and work and even moreso I want to compliment the senior players for how they got the brotherhood going in those tough games.”
Their message had been ‘Ignore what you hear guys, we are going to make it. Stick together’.
“I’ve got respect for these bunch of brothers to fight and fight and make these semis, considering where we were,” he said.
De Bruin also praised the way first five-eighths Elton Jantjies had played through criticism.
“He doesn’t lie down, he keeps on going. And he is a fighter for the team,” he said.