Lions must pitch up ‘mentally and physically’ – Sanele Nohamba

Dynamic scrumhalf Sanele Nohamba says that the Lions have to pitch up both mentally and physically if they want to stand any chance of upsetting the Stormers in their United Rugby Championship (URC) clash at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday night.

Nohamba has enjoyed a good season for the Lions so far, which led to him being selected for the South African A team for their tour of the UK in November, and has formed strong partnerships with both flyhalves Jordan Hendrikse and Gianni Lombard.

He will play a big part in trying to get the Lions’ exciting backline going in the match this weekend against a dazzling Stormers backline, although he believes the game will be decided in the physical battles.

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“Rugby is a physical sport, so we just have to pitch up mentally and physically. There are going to be a number of physical battles in the game and we just have to do our part and try and stop their momentum,” explained Nohamba.

“That’s how they get their attack going. They have big ball carriers that get them on the front foot and then their outside backs run out wide. So if we bring our physicality it should be a good game.”

Struggling Lions

The Lions are on a dreadful run of form against South African opposition that has seen them lose their last eight local derbies, two of them against the Stormers on the Highveld, and they now have to try and arrest that slide against a Springbok laden team in Cape Town.

The Lions’ last local derby win came against the hosts in this same fixture in December last year, and despite their wretched run against SA sides, Nohamba claims it is not something that the team dwells on too much.

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“Our form (against local sides) is important because we are a performance based team. Over the weekend (the loss against the Sharks) we had to review ourselves and see where we went wrong,” Nohamba said.

“We now need to produce a good performance on Saturday and let the result take care of itself. I don’t think it’s something that we put too much emphasis on (the losing streak against SA teams).

“We are process and performance driven. That’s what is very important to us at the moment. So the goal is to put in a good showing in Cape Town.”