Rhodes warns of wild Lions

 

The two teams have had contrasting starts to the season, with the Stormers winning their first two games and the Lions without a single log point to show for their efforts, and as a result coach Johan Ackermann has made a number of changes in an attempt to turn things around.

 

As a former Lions player Rhodes knows that the Johannesburg team's strength lies in their ability to vary their attacking game, and expects them to try and run the Stormers off their feet on Saturday.

 

"I expect they will try and move the ball around, they are a team that you can't predict what they will do. They will try and run it from their ther own 22 and they have a good set-piece.

 

"So they are a good team and we will have to prepare for all of that. We will have to be on our A-game this weekend and expect the unexpected I suppose," he said.

 

The Stormers already have one Highveld scalp this season having beaten the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld in their opening game, but Rhodes warned that the Lions will pose an altogether different attacking threat, especially with the tricky Elton Jantjies at flyhalf.

 

"They play more laterally, as opposed to a team like the Bulls who front up with their direct runners, so our defensive systems will have to be in place for that.

 

"They have got steppers, and Elton [Jantjies] with his little chips and grubbers, so they have an all-round ability to attack so it will be a different type of challenge to the Bulls," he explained.

 

Having gone down at Ellis Park in their first game last season, the Stormers know all to well what the Lions are capable of, and Rhodes said the fact that they have lost their first two games makes them even more dangerous.

 

"It will be a tough game, we are under no illusions that we are not going to have to go our there and play very well to beat this side, just because they have lost their first few games does not mean that it is going to be an easy four or five points up there. They are going to be desperate and we need to be equally desperate," he said.

 

However, the Cape side are feeling positive at the moment and Rhodes is confident that they will be able to make the defensive adjustment required to contain the hosts.

 

"We have worked well on our defence this week and we know what to expect, it is just a matter of going out there and doing it on the day," he said.