Fouche to give Lions that perfect balance?
SPOTLIGHT: Lions backline and skills coach Ricardo Loubscher has backed Eddie Fouche to come up with the goods at flyhalf.
The Lions’ first-choice No.10 Jordan Hendrikse is expected to be out of action for at least three months after fracturing his ankle in his team’s defeat to Scarlets in Round Two of the Rugby Championship.
“It’s a big blow for us. Jordan is a talented player,” said Loubscher.
“We are going to miss him, but we got Eddie [Fouche], who is a guy waiting in the wings to make that step up for us.
“We back all the guys in the system and it’s going to be a massive challenge for us on the weekend again [against Glasgow Warriors].”
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Loubscher said his team will need to bring some more variation to their game.
And Fouche could be the man to help them with that.
“We want to play to our strengths, but at the same time we realise that you can’t be predictable,” Loubscher explained.
“So, we want to find a balance between attacking with our forwards and we also got a great backline.
“On the back of our analysis against the Scarlets, we realised that we need to add a bit more variation to keep teams honest, especially when we go into their 22.
“Teams realise that we use our forwards quite a bit, so maybe on the weekend we can add a bit of variation to our attack.”
The Lions have brought in former UCT playmaker James Tedder on a “trial basis”, but he is in South Africa and it might be some time before he gets an opportunity.
Loubscher believes there are enough “versatile” players in the squad to cover the flyhalf role should something happen to Fouche.
“With the Covid rules, it makes it a bit of a challenge to fly somebody in.
“I don’t know all the red tape around it, but part of our planning was to make sure we go with players that are versatile and I am sure that there are players that can cover that position for us over the weekend,” Loubscher added.
