Lions to reset against Stormers after Glasgow postponement

The Lions are set to reset as they prepare for their United Rugby Championship derby clash against the Stormers at Ellis Park this weekend, after their past weekend’s clash against Glasgow Warriors was postponed.

An outbreak of gastroenteritis infections in the Glasgow squad meant they couldn’t field a team to play the Lions, who were on a bit of a roll after a successful tour to Wales and Scotland, followed by an exciting comeback against Ulster at Ellis Park, with them falling just short.

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The Lions thus have to shake off missing out on playing over the past weekend and refocus on the coming Stormers challenge.

“The frustrating part is that we had a great week (in training) and we wanted to bounce back after the Ulster result. But we can only control what we can control. So we just had to enjoy the (past) weekend and then focus on the next job which is the Stormers this weekend,” said Lions scrum coach Julian Redelinghuys.

“We are still waiting to hear what’s going to happen as a result of them (Glasgow) pulling out of the game. But we are just focused on what we can control and that is this weekend’s match at home.”

Much changed Stormers

The Lions could come up against a much-changed Stormers side, with a number of their players attending the Springbok training camp in Stellenbosch this week, and it is not yet known who will be available to turn out for the Cape side, with the Boks’ end-of-year-tour starting a week later.

“We don’t have any clarity on who is going to play for the Stormers this weekend. We know that they have come back from their (overseas) tour and that they are coming into the match off a loss, so we are expecting nothing less than a massive SA derby this weekend,” admitted Redelinghuys.

“For us, we can’t focus on who we are going to scrum against or play against, because we don’t know who will play for them.

“So we are just focused on what is best for us and then whatever is in front of us this weekend we will deal with that. But you can only do that if the team prepares well, which we will do this week.”