Johannesburg - The Emirates Lions will be without the services of their inspirational and incomparable captain, Jaco Kriel, for the foreseeable future, starting with their United Rugby Championship clash against Munster this weekend.
Kriel suffered an injury this past Sunday in the Lions important and morale boosting victory over Cardiff Rugby and as a result underwent surgery on Thursday, which will relegate him to the sidelines in the coming weeks.
He will be replaced by the exciting, young prospect that is Sibusiso Sangweni for the upcoming clash on Saturday at Emirates Airline Park (kick-off 2pm) aginst the Irish giants. In his absence, the captaincy will revert back to Burger Odendaal.
“It’s sad to lose Jaco to injury,” said head coach Ivan van Rooyen in the statement announcing the matchday 23 on Friday morning.
“He underwent surgery on his arm, so he’ll be sidelined for an extended period. We wish him a successful recovery,” said Van Rooyen.
The loss of the highly respected Kriel will come as a set-back to Van Rooyen and Co, no matter how the coach cuts the cheese. The Springbok has arguably been one of the reasons for the Lions squad sticking together during what has been a trying time and his leadership on the field will certainly be missed as the Lions endeavour to win their remaining matches at home.
Nevertheless, Van Rooyen and his team can take confidence from their recent victory, and the coach briefly admitted as much in the statement.
“Last week’s win was a real confidence booster for us,” said Van Rooyen, “however we are not getting ahead of ourselves. The hard work continues and the intent to improve each week remains our theme.”
“Munster are a fantastic side and have an impeccable record in this competition. Ours will be to ensure we play to our strengths and execute the things we spoke about in the week effectively," he concluded.
Starting XV Emirates Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Stean Pienaar, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Burger Odendaal (capt), 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Jordan Hendrikse, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Francke Horn, 7 Vincent Tshituka, 6 Sibusiso Sangweni, 5 Reinhard Nothnagel, 4 Ruben Schoeman, 3 Carlu Sadie, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 Sithembiso Sithole; Replacements: 16 PJ Botha, 17 JP Smith, 18 Ruan Dreyer, 19 Ruan Venter, 20 Emmanuel Tshituka, 21. Nico Steyn /Ginter Smuts, 22 Manuel Rass, 23 Tiaan Swanepoel
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