Jannes fit for Super 14
29 Jan 2009
Lions conditioning coach Dr Gerhaard Jordaan believes Jannes Labuschagne will be able to handle the helter-skelter nature of the hybrid ELVs.
Labuschagne, who retired from all rugby in 2006, returned in September last year to help out the Lions in the last three matches of the Currie Cup. That was played under the global ELVs and not the hybrid rules used for the Super 14 – where the pace of the game is rapidly faster due to the higher number of free-kicks for most penalisable offences.
Jordaan, who helped out the World Cup-winning Springboks in 1995 with their fitness preparations, believes Labuschagne’s pre-season work will aid in him becoming accustomed to the hybrid ELVs.
“We’ve been doing high-intensity training,” Jordaan told keo.co.za. “With these rules you don’t have many penalties where the guys slow it down and have time to decide what to do, so we’ve adjusted training accordingly.
“We’ve made everything in training very fast, with little recovery-time to simulate game situations. This will in turn ensure their recovery-time and fitness improves,” he said.
Coach Loffie Eloff has opted for just one official warm-up game and with their bye coming early in the campaign (week four), Jordaan believes the Lions will reap the dividends in the latter stages of the tournament.
“You tread a fine line between training to work at that intensity and then over-training. There is no clear answer on the perfect number of warm-ups, but we are happy with just one. Otherwise it would make the season very long, especially those last four matches of the season,” said Jordaan.
The Lions lack quality depth across the park, and especially in the second-row. For their friendly against the Bulls Labuschagne and Anton van Zyl were the only fit locks in the squad, with flank Franco van der Merwe covering.
However, Eloff and Jordaan expect Gerhard Mostert to be fit for the Super 14 opener against the Cheetahs, while Dewald Senekal will return soon after.
Eloff has meanwhile dropped some players to form a 33-man squad for the competition. The only surprise omission is that of centre Walter Venter, with Deon van Rensburg and Barry Goodes the back-up midfield pair.
Hooker Ethienne Reynecke, tighthead Ross Geldenhuys, flank Justin Wheeler, and flyhalf Louis Strydom are also excluded.
Senekal and Ernst Joubert are the only players not considered initially due to injury.
Lions reduced squad:
Fullbacks: Louis Ludik, Shandré Frolick
Wings: Ashwin Willemse, Henno Mentz, Michael Killian, Howard Noble, Jannie Boshoff
Centres: Jaque Fourie, Doppies la Grange, Barry Goodes, Deon van Rensburg
Flyhalves: André Pretorius, Earl Rose, Divan Kotze
Scrumhalves: Jano Vermaak, Chris Jonck, Allister Siegelaar
Eighthmen: Willem Alberts, Robert Kruger
Blinside flanks: Franco van der Merwe, Thiliphaut Marole
Openside flanks: Baywatch Grobbelaar, Todd Clever
Locks: Anton van Zyl, Jannes Labuschagne, Gerhard Mostert, Ligtoring Landman
Tightheads: Gert Muller, Lawrence Sephaka
Hookers: Willie Wepener, Hans van Dyk
Looseheads: Heinke van der Merwe, JC van Rensburg
Injured: Ernst Joubert, Dewald Senekal
By Grant Ball
35 Comments
29 Jan 2009, 13:04 pm
Fikse draak
29 Jan 2009, 13:04 pm
Anton van Zyl – another ex-Matie playing for another union…
29 Jan 2009, 13:05 pm
# WP Till I Die: you can’t see that dragon. it’s over the hill.
29 Jan 2009, 13:10 pm
Gerhard Mostert is ‘n yster
29 Jan 2009, 13:11 pm
#4 K9_BaasPatrolliehond:
Yster roes soms.
29 Jan 2009, 13:22 pm
Good luck to the big fella.
Was a huge fan of his earlier in his career.Always thought he’d have made a great blindside when he was younger.Was quite athletic for his size
BUT
He has had a tumultous 5-6 yrs or so.Injuries killing off any extended run in the Bok side.Is a pale shadow of his former self.Extremely nice fellow though(met him a few times while at RAU/UJ).
Good luck to him
29 Jan 2009, 13:25 pm
#4 K9_BaasPatrolliehond:
Jury is still out on him.not convinced yet.Hope he isnt a coaches/pundit favourite like Selborne Boome but never translates it to the pitch.
29 Jan 2009, 13:33 pm
Seems like Lions dont rate Walter Venter,screwed him around before when they sent him to the Leopards for 2/3 yrs…
WP/Free State must have a look at him…Lions dont know what they have there…Barry Goodes?sheesh
29 Jan 2009, 13:45 pm
Aside from Venter, where are?
Etienne Reynecke
Ross Geldenhuys
29 Jan 2009, 13:46 pm
Can anyone comment on the likes of:
Landman
Marole
Kotze
Van Rensburg
?
29 Jan 2009, 13:48 pm
Ligtoring Landman
only in south africa
29 Jan 2009, 13:50 pm
#11 the peanut gallery: add to that dabeon draghoender playing for maties
29 Jan 2009, 13:50 pm
#11 the peanut gallery:
29 Jan 2009, 13:55 pm
#12 the peanut gallery:
Draghoender???
29 Jan 2009, 13:55 pm
Ligtoring????Bwa hahahahaha
29 Jan 2009, 13:55 pm
#9 puff: Rassie should buy them They would be a huge boodt to the Stormers powder puff front row.
29 Jan 2009, 13:56 pm
André Pretorius is super motivated to make a come back this year. I hope he starts settling in again after such a lengthy lay off and produces some of the sublime rugby he showed in the 2007 S14 again.
29 Jan 2009, 13:57 pm
how do you market a team like the lions. other teams all have quite a few marketable players, who, even if you don’t like them, you enjoy watching because they bring something special to the game.
eg bulls have matfield, spies, bakkies, f du p
sharks have beast, the hoff, ruan, steyn
stormers have j de v, luke, schalk
cheetahs have uhm ok maybe smith
the lions are so bland. nothing there to exite the neutral exept maybe mossie
29 Jan 2009, 13:58 pm
#14 Dawn: i kid you not. check out the maties thread form yesterday.
29 Jan 2009, 13:58 pm
#4 K9_BaasPatrolliehond: Kan nie glo jy gee my k@k oor diepte by die Stormers nie!!!! Julle gaan sukkel as daar ‘n paar manne seerkry. Net Louise Ludek, Jacque F en Willem Alberts wat Bok materiaal is. En miskien Heinke, as iemand hom kan leer om nie onwettig te skrum nie…
29 Jan 2009, 13:58 pm
So.
Van Der Merwe, Wepener, Muller, Labuschagne, Mostert, Grobelaar, Joubert, Alberts, Vermaak, Pretorius, Mentz, La Grange, Fourie, Willemse, Ludik
Van Dyk, Sephaka, Senekal, Van Der Merwe, Jonck, Rose, Goodes or Killian
That’s actually an industrious looking team – I think they may go further than most suspect – but not by much though.
29 Jan 2009, 14:05 pm
Well I for one hope they do better than last year……what do you guys think of Franco vd Merwe?
29 Jan 2009, 14:19 pm
EEE
I actually rate him.
Dewald Senekal too.
29 Jan 2009, 14:19 pm
Franco VD Merwe reminds me a bit of Gerrie Britz, when he was on form.
29 Jan 2009, 14:27 pm
#10 puff:
Wsup puff
Marole is a former u19 flamker in 07′,was in the same loose trio with van Velze and van der Heever which was very impressive in the u19 WC
Good on the ground and powerful ball carrier.Has an impressive workrate.One for the future
29 Jan 2009, 14:28 pm
#23 puff:
he’s not bad at all.In the mould of corniel van Zyl/Boela du plooy.Effective but not amazing
29 Jan 2009, 14:28 pm
#23 puff: His Aunt works with me, he is a huge boy…..
29 Jan 2009, 14:32 pm
#27 EEE:
He does have an impressive build.Well conditioned.Not bad in the mobility stakes neither.Can play 6 as well if im not mistaken
29 Jan 2009, 14:37 pm
#28 mshiniwami: Yep, that is his preferred position but of course it is the Captains position so his chances of playing there are rather slim.
Anyway cheers guys, gotto go…..talk again later
29 Jan 2009, 14:39 pm
Ligtoring Landman
LMAO
29 Jan 2009, 14:41 pm
#8 mshiniwami:
Yes, where is Walter these days. It has been a long time since he came here on keo.co.za to chat. But still I wonder why he did not make it into the squad.
29 Jan 2009, 14:45 pm
Flyhalves: André Pretorius, Earl Rose, Divan Kotze
I am very glad that Louis Strydom did not make it. He is not built for ELV rugga.
29 Jan 2009, 15:09 pm
And finally, a word from the man himself.
Loffie
If the warm up matches were any indication of what lies ahead, then times are exciting! Although I don’t read a lot into the score lines, but what impressed me was the fact that we scored seven tries against the three tries by the Bulls.
What impressed me even more was the spectators, apparently there were 6 – 8 000 people who cheered their teams along, and I could feel the buzz around the stand, especially from the people who wore red and were Lions supporters.
With tongue in cheek, I will not go too far ahead and I’m happy we have a good foundation we can work from. The teams’ fitness levels are fine, the skill levels were good and the structures we wanted to set in place worked pretty well.
Now it is about working intelligently and preparing the team for the first match of the season against the Cheetahs on Friday, 13 February at Coca-Cola Park.
In the next two weeks we will be having live training sessions against our Vodacom Cup team, as well as against our Varsity Cup side, just to ensure that we are match fit when the season starts.
The reason why I’ve only played one hard warm up game is because of body fatigue. We have our bye early in the season, which means the guys will play continuously for 11 matches in row and I need to ensure that we can cope with the physicality for 13 weeks.
I thought all the new players that came in added value to the team, even some of the young guns showed signs that they can play at this level. I will be chatting to you on Monday, 16 February after the Cheetahs game. Hope to see you all at Coca-Cola Park then. Let’s fill the stadium up and start the season on a high note.
Chat to you soon!
Cheers for now.
Eugene “Loffie” Eloff
29 Jan 2009, 16:53 pm
Good luck to the big man! Seen him in the gym a few times and believe me, he’s a beast! I’m sure he’s going to surprise a few people this season!
Why have the lions left out Venter? The guy is class and def a player for the future! Looks like bumbbling player management again!
31 Jan 2009, 06:45 am
Jannes was, of course, the insanely over-vigorous “breker” who got red-carded off early in that infamous 53-3 Twickenham spanking against Martin Johnson’s England team. His absence meant the Boks had to play almost the entire game with only 14 men and, more importantly, only 7 forwards.
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