Lions want to see ‘the old Sanele Nohamba,’ says Jaque Fourie

Lions assistant coach Jaque Fourie is hopeful that Sanele Nohamba will soon be back to his old self and back to his best, after a tough start to the season.

After a cracking previous campaign for the Lions, where Nohamba largely played at flyhalf while also playing scrumhalf, and was named the URC player of the season for the 2023-24 campaign, it has been a dramatic shift seeing how little he has played during the current season.

In eight Lions games so far across the United Rugby Championship (URC) and Challenge Cup, he has started just twice, while featuring off the bench five times.

Kade Wolhuter has been the Lions’ preferred flyhalf half this season, while Morne van den Berg has been the first-choice scrumhalf, shifting Nohamba out of the starting XV.

He has even fallen behind a couple of up-and-coming youngsters, in halfback Nico Steyn who was picked ahead of him against Dragons and flyhalf Sam Francis who got the nod ahead of him for the last two games.

Despite his struggles, which have been impacted by a bereavement off the field, Fourie believes Nohamba can get back to his best.

‘A difficult time’

“We all know the calibre of player Sanele is. Since his father passed away, it’s been a difficult time for him. We can all see with the way he has been on the field that he is not currently playing like the Sanele from last season,” explained Fourie.

“We have to pick the best team every week. Those are the standards we set. We have to do whatever is best for the team. He has been going through a very difficult time, but we believe he can get through this and come out stronger in the end.

“The games that he has played, he hasn’t met our standards. We have lots of guys pushing for positions, and we want to pick the best quality XV for every match. He needs to get back to the old Sanele we know is there.”

Players returning from injury

The Lions also received a boost ahead of their URC game against the Stormers in Cape Town this coming weekend when Fourie announced that almost the entire squad was available for selection.

That means star fullback Quan Horn and centre Henco van Wyk will be back, after missing their Challenge Cup win over Section Paloise over the past weekend due to niggles.

“Everyone is healthy and doing well. The only guy who won’t be available for this weekend is Richard (Kriel), but everyone else is eligible and ready to play,” said Fourie.

After the Stormers game the Lions players go on a 10 day break, before returning to the training pitch ahead of two Challenge Cup games against Montpellier and Dragons in January.