Tag: Golden Lions

Cheetahs played full 80 minutes to win: Prinsloo

Boom Prinsloo
Boom Prinsloo

Free State Cheetahs captain Boom Prinsloo praised his side for playing the full 80 minutes to beat the Golden Lions 26-23 in their Currie Cup game in the Free State stadium in Bloemfontein on Friday.

The hosts are now second on the logm pending the results of Saturday’s other Currie Cup games between Griquas and the Sharks and the Blue Bulls and Western Province, but for the time being eighth-man Prinsloo,is relieved that his team stood their ground for victory.

The Cheetahs nearly squandered a half time lead of 23-3 and gave the Lions ample chance to make a come back, with a penalty by Cheetahs winger Riaan Smit the only difference.

“We made it very difficult for ourselves in the second half, but I am glad that the guys kept their cool and did not lose their concentration. In the end we finished well,” said Prinsloo.

“This Lions team never gives up. Credit must go to my team mates for playing untill the final whistle. I am really proud of the effort they put in.”

The Cheetahs looked impressive in the line outs, but struggled in the scrums with Lions Springbok front rower CJ van der Linde an important factor.

“Our lineouts improved a lot since last week after we worked hard on it in our preparation, but our scrums weren’t up to scratch. We are still struggling a bit with the timing and the new calls, but we need to rectify that this coming week,” Prinsloo added.

“Next week we play the Sharks. It is always tough to travel to Durban. But if we can build on the momentum we now have after beating the Lions we can not only beat the Sharks in their own back yard, but really finish well this season,” Prinsloo added.

The Lions followed their lacklustre performance in the first half with a stellar 40 minutes in the second, but in the end good tries by winger Anthony Volmink and replacement full back Ruan Nel were not enough to see the visitors travel back to Johannesburg with a win.

“We struggled to get into our rhythm in the first half and made it very difficult for ourselves. The guys really pitched in the second half, but we can’t just play rugby in the second 40 minutes, we have to play the full game, something we did not do against the Cheetahs. It is really something we need to work on,” Lions flanker and captain Derick Minnie said. – Sapa

Bees Roux returns to rugby while black family forgives him

Bees Roux
Bees Roux

Bees Roux will soon join the Golden Lions rugby team, while the family of the black metro policeman he had killed in Pretoria, Johannes Nshimane Mogale, had “forgiven him unconditionally”.

In 2010 the rugby player beat the 38-year old sergeant to death in Hatfield and the following year he received a suspended sentence of 5 years in prison. Among the conditions of his plea bargain was as payment of R750 000 in compensation to the Mogale family.

Lions coach Johann Ackermann confirmed on Monday that Roux (31) would most likely be included as prop in the team during the coming Currie Cup season. According to Manie Booysen, the chief executive of the Golden Lions Rugby Union (GLRU), there was “technically no impediment to choosing Bees. It will be a pity if people saw his involvement in the wrong light. The chap has shown remorse.”

“We are selecting him for rugby and no other reason. He is a prop that is available coming back from abroad,” Ackermann said.

“We are in a tight spot as there are no other players that are not under contract, so we’ll pull him into the group and see how he goes.”

The Lions coach said letters in which the Mogale family offered their forgiveness to Roux had made the decision easier to look at the player.

“We have two letters dating to 2011 and 2013 where the parents and the family personally give their blessing to him to play rugby and they even want him to play for South Africa,” Ackermann said.

“This gave us somewhat of a positive outlook because they (the family) are willing to forgive and forget and to give him a second chance in life.”

A month after he pleaded guilty the Blue Bulls Rugby Union sacked Roux for breach of contract and he later took up a contract with French club the Bordeaux Eagles.

In 2012 he joined Italian team Treviso until the end of the European season this year, while he also featured in the South African Barbarians team in a match against Saracens in May.

Fresh off securing their place in the 2014 Super Rugby competition through a superior points difference to the Southern Kings in their two leg promotion-relegation matches, the Lions are facing a crisis at prop.

Captain JC Janse van Rensburg, who was the main anchor in the front row for the Lions has left the team for Bayonne in France, while Julian Redelinghuys suffered a long-term injury over the weekend.

“We are looking to borrow another prop from somewhere as we actually only have three fit props in Ruan Dreyer, Jacques van Rooyen and CJ van der Linde,” Ackermann said. – Sapa and praag