Lions pack's pace, not power, a threat
The Golden Lions are famed for their set-piece power, but it is the pace of their forwards that could trouble Western Province more.
WP coach Allister Coetzee, speaking in the build-up to the Currie Cup Final at Newlands on Saturday, admitted the set-pieces will have a massive influence in the outcome.
However, despite their renowned scrumming power, it is their mobility that makes the Lions' forwards so dangerous.
"The game is always based on solidity up front- scrums, mauling, line-out options," Coetzee told a media scrum at the team's training base.
"That is what is at the beginning of the game, it is an arm-wrestle for dominance."
He admitted the Lions' set piece strength will make it a massive challenge for last year's beaten finalists.
"This Lions side has quite a mobile pack," Coetzee said.
"It is a good scrummaging and a line-out pack, so they have solidness and pace.
"This will be a different challenge for us altogether."
The WP coach also spoke about "accuracy" in the set-pieces and the ability to scrum well against the competition's most feared pack.
"I have looked at our scrummaging performances up there," Coetzee said of their 33-35 loss at Ellis Park on September 13.
"It was also a massive challenge this [past] weekend and we did well against a very strong scrummaging Blue Bulls side,"he said of the 31-23 win at Newlands.
"It is vital, in order to get your loose forwards to play other roles on the field, that your tight forwards have a good workrate."
And that is another factor the Lions bring to the game, their enormous loose forward resources.
"They have excellent loose forwards and [last week] they had an extra loose forward with Kwagga [Albertus Smith], [Warwick] Tecklenburg and Willie Britz [on the bench," the WP coach said, adding: "Then there is [Warren] Whiteley, [Derick] Minnie and Jaco Kriel – who all start.
"They are blessed with so many brilliant loose forwards, but you can use only so many loose forwards in a game."
Coetzee also said will back their defensive structures to cope with the Lions' up-tempo, high-paced game and there won't be any dramatic changes in the home team's approach.
"We have lot of respect for the Lions team – they also have a ball-in-hand approach, where they use the width of the field. They go wide, wide or they can be direct. They ask questions all over the pitch.
"It is vital that we respect our systems and our defensive structure. Everyone must work massively hard within the system.
"We have handled sides before that go wide, wide, close, chips over the top. The basic thing is working hard within your system – there is no reason to do anything differently.
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