Lions boss takes positive view: ‘EW gives us something else at No 10’

Lions utility back EW Viljoen has been thrown into the deep end for their United Rugby Championship clash against the Glasgow Warriors at the Scotstoun Stadium on Saturday, with him filling in at flyhalf after an injury crisis saw both regular starters Jordan Hendrikse and Eddie Fouche ruled out.

Hendrikse broke his ankle in the last match against Scarlets while Fouche also suffered an ankle injury in training on Thursday which has ruled him out for at least this weekend’s encounter, which has led to Viljoen, who has primarily played at fullback for the Lions and featured at centre and wing, shifted to flyhalf.

“It’s obviously not ideal losing two flyhalves in a week. It looks like Eddie did his ankle, obviously within the next 48 hours we should be able to get feedback regarding scans, as it happened yesterday during our session,” explained Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen.

“Whether we will fly someone in all depends on the new ruling with us being off the red list … the moment we are able to fly someone in we will.

“It is unfair for me to sit here and try and convince everyone EW is an out and out flyhalf, but what I can say is over the last year, year and a half he has really trained there quite often for us, so it is obviously a challenge but it also gives us something else.

“Basically having three centres next to one another could be a benefit, but it is a challenge and one that we are looking forward to.”

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Another challenge for the Lions will be the need to come to grips with playing on a 4G pitch for the first time in the competition with a number of their players not having played on one in a match before, while the weather will also play a big role in how the game progresses.

“I think this will be the first time for a couple of guys playing a match on a 4G pitch. I think it was a different element for the guys this week as we got the opportunity to train on a pitch like that and it is a bit different,” admitted Lions captain Burger Odendaal.

“Looking at Glasgow I think they want to play with the ball. I think it’s going to depend on the weather as well, but we don’t want to focus too much on them, I think from last week we had a lot of work-ons and we just want to rectify that this weekend.

“We also have a few challenges with injuries and all that, but that’s not an excuse for us. We still have to go out and give a great performance for 80 minutes.”

Lions: Divan Rossouw, Stean Pienaar, Manuel Rass, Burger Odendaal (capt), Rabz Maxwane, EW Viljoen, Andre Warner, Ruhan Straeuli, Vincent Tshituka, Jaco Kriel, Pieter Janse van Vuren, Ruben Schoeman, Jannie du Plessis, Jaco Visagie, Sti Sithole. 

Bench: PJ Botha, Morgan Naude, Carlu Sadie, Reinhard Nothnagel, Sibusiso Sangweni, Morne van den Berg, Matt More, Wandisile Simelane