WP brace for 'clinical' Lions
Western Province are preparing themselves to take on a 'clinical' – and in-form – Golden Lions team when they face them in Johannesburg on Friday.
The Lions recorded the biggest winning margin in the 2013 Currie Cup tournament this past weekend, smashing the Blue Bulls – in Pretoria – by 62-23.
WP coach Allister Coetzee admitted that the Lions are a serious threat.
"You don't often go to Pretoria and put 60 points past the Bulls," Coetzee said.
"It was an awesome performance from the Lions at Loftus Versfeld.
"They were clinical in everything they did and played at a very high tempo.
"The Bulls were ahead by 23-20 with thirty minutes left in the match, but the Lions, with their effective ball-in-hand style of play, scored an incredible six tries to come away with a deserved victory."
After three rounds of action, Province are the only unbeaten team in the Currie Cup at present, but Coetzee admitted that they had luck on their side in their 20-19 win over Griquas in Kimberley.
"As good as the Lions were in their victory, we got something of a 'get out of jail free card' against Griquas, but, hopefully, we would have learnt our lessons from the weekend.
"Griquas were effective when they had the ball and put us under pressure, but we're expecting an even bigger challenge against the Lions in Johannesburg."
Flyhalf Gary van Aswegen – who missed the Griquas clash with a shoulder injury – returned to training on Monday and will be put through a full day's training on Tuesday.
Centre Pat Howard and utility back Michael van der Spuy, both having been battling with hamstring injuries, also returned to training on Monday – along with flyhalf Demetri Catrakilis, who is yet to play since returning to the Cape on loan from the Kings.
All four the above-mentioned players will be monitored at training over the next two days.
The WP team, to take on the Lions on Friday will be announced after Tuesday's afternoon practice session at the team's training base in Bellville.
