Get the Super Rugby ball rolling

Weekends will never be the same again with the start of the Super Rugby season kicking off this afternoon with three South African teams in action.

The Stormers host the Jaguares in the season opener at Newlands this afternoon, then the Lions entertain the Sharks at Ellis Park for the first time in the competition since losing last year’s final to the Crusaders.

The bitter taste of defeat in that final will still linger in Lions fans’ mouths after a Kwagga Smith red card late in the first half all but ended the contest.

The Lions team looks slightly different to the team that lost their second successive Super Rugby final last year.

But they welcome the return of their inspirational leader Warren Whiteley at eighthman after recovering from a groin injury that kept him out of a large chunk of 2017.

The Lions may have a new Super Rugby coach in Swys de Bruin, but the former backline coach already assumed the reins from Johan Ackermann – who left for the United Kingdom – for the Currie Cup last season.

The Sharks, meanwhile, have a new flyhalf in Western Province’s Robert du Preez, son of dad and coach Robert senior, the former Springbok scrumhalf.

The Stormers should be too strong for their Argentine counterparts, but the Sharks will be relishing the prospect of having first crack at the Lions.

It makes for an intriguing first Saturday of competition.

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