AUDIO: Swys questions legality of Hurricanes' tactics
SUPER RUGBY REACTION: Lions, along with officials, will have to keep a close eye on Hurricanes’ breakdown tactics warns head coach Swys de Bruin.
The Lions will host the Hurricanes in Round 17 in Johannesburg on Saturday, and head coach De Bruin revealed that his side will have to be very physical to overcome John Plumtree’s Hurricanes, particularly when it comes to the rucks.
De Bruin, speaking to reporters after the 41-22 bonus-point win over the Stormers, revealed that he had noticed the tactics utilised by the New Zealand side during their win over the Sharks and hinted that he has to review its legality.
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“I was watching the Hurricanes play down in Durban, they were fantastic,” De Bruin said, adding: “They’re very hard on the rucks, must go and see how legal that is.
“But as I said, they were very hard on the rucks, so we’ll have to man up this week before we play them,”
The last time the Hurricanes visited Johannesburg was during the 2017 Super Rugby semi-final and on that occasion, the Lions won 44-29.
However, this weekend’s battle is under very circumstances. Not only are the Lions desperate to keep their play-off hopes alive, but they also face the 2016 Super Rugby champions for the very first time this season.
“We haven’t played [the Hurricanes] this year so it’s going to be tough judging by what happened against the Sharks,” Lions captain Malcolm Marx told reporters.
“I’m sure the boys will step up and we’ll enjoy [the win over Stormers] first and then we’ll come back on Monday and analyse to see where we need to improve,”
In terms of the Elton Jantjies’ axing “due to a breach of team protocol”, captain Marx added: “It was sort of handled internally and in my opinion, it was handled pretty.
“As the players, we sort of stood behind him and backed the next guy that was coming in,”
By Josh Isaacson
@isaacson_j
@rugby365com
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