Lions leadership hails performance by Simelane: He is a world-class attacker
The young centre, who created all sorts of problems for Griquas, stole the show in the scintillating victory by the Joburg team.
Young centre Wandisile Simelane of the Lions was in devastating form against Griquas and showed just why rugby fans are so excited about him. Picture: Getty Images
The attack-minded Lions centre Wandisile Simelane showed on Friday night in the Super Rugby Unlocked game against Griquas why he has Springbok written all over him.
Simelane scored one of the Lions’ nine tries, but it was his incredible vision, awareness and off-loading ability that saw him play a major role in three of the Lions’ four first half tries.
Lions captain Elton Jantjies lauded the performance of the 22-year-old following their team’s 61-31 win – the team’s first of the competition.
“I’m very pleased with Shimmie, he has been working hard and he has been kept accountable,” said Jantjies.
“He just showed again what a brilliant player he is. He’s a guy who takes ownership of his job and position and I’m really happy with that.
“We have got a great backline and we created a lot of opportunities. We even left two or three opportunities out on the field.”
Lions coach Cash van Rooyen will now have a few selection dilemmas; he will have to choose between Simelane and the returning Burger Odendaal for the Bulls clash next weekend at Ellis Park; the latter man being one of the Lions’ star performers before missing out on the starting team because of Covid protocols.
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“Wandi had a good game, again, but there were a number of guys who really played well for us,” said Van Rooyen after the impressive performance by the Lions.
“We all know how dangerous Wandi is when he is in open space,” he said.
Simelane, who played for the SA Schools team for two years in a row and also ran out for SA U-20 side in consecutive years, will only benefit from more game time in the Lions midfield.
“He is world-class attacker when it comes to one-on-one situations and he had the opportunity on Friday to do just that,” said Van Rooyen.
“He is a very exciting prospect, a youngster, very keen to learn and keen to keep on growing, so we must commend him for that,” said Van Rooyen.
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