Lions want to ‘let the ball fly’ against Montpellier

The Lions face a big test of their credentials when they come up against a star-studded Montpellier side in a Challenge Cup rugby game in France, at 7.30pm Saturday.

While the Lions are a side who show no fear and aren’t scared about taking on anyone anywhere in the world, they’ll go into the game knowing they’re up against a formidable outfit.

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Montpellier, who former Springbok coach Jake White once coached, boast such players as Bok stars Cobus Reinach, Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg and Jan Serfontein, though none of them will be in action this weekend, while former Lions man Madosh Tambwe will be in the No 14 jersey against his former team.

The French side are currently seventh in the Top 14, with seven wins from 14 games. The Lions meanwhile are 12th in the United Rugby Championship after seven games and four wins.

Debut for Mpeku

In the Challenge Cup so far, the Lions have one win (at home against Pau) and a defeat (away to Ospreys), while Montpellier have a win against the Dragons (away) and a win against Ospreys at home.

Lions boss Ivan van Rooyen has handed a debut to young wing Kelly Mpeku, a former pupil at King Edward VII School, while Quan Horn is back at fullback after a long injury layoff. Joining them in an exciting back-three will be Edwill van der Merwe, who’ll be going all out in the first part of this year to get a recall to the Springbok side in June and July.

Nico Steyn and Sam Francis are the halfback pairing, which means Sanele Nohamba will play off the bench. The dynamic flanker JC Pretorius will also add impact from among the replacements.

In the forwards, Francke Horn is joined in the back row by Izan Esterhuizen and WJ Steenkamp, while Asenathi Ntlabakanye is expected to take charge of the tight five.

‘Let the ball fly’

After getting their 2024/25 season off to a thrilling start with a number of good wins in the URC, the Lions have come unstuck in the last few weeks and will be keen to get back to winning ways as quickly as possible.

Scrum coach Julian Redelinghuys said the players were keen to “get back to their identity” in this game.
“It’s about how we want to play,” said Redelinghuys.

“For us, balancing the Lions way works really well if it’s dry – if it’s lekker conditions, then we can let the ball fly. But if we are playing in the wet, we don’t want to become conservative.

“We want to play to enjoy the game, we want to attack and let the guys express themselves.”