Malherbe’s spectre looms large for Stormers against Lions

Stormers prop Frans Malherbe hits a significant landmark this weekend, but the Lions are desperate to turn it into a landmine in their United Rugby Championship clash on Saturday.

Malherbe will play his 150th game for the franchise and his teammates will no doubt want to turn it into a moment to savour.

The Lions have the opposite in mind and there will be no free ride for Malherbe.

“Definitely not,” said Lions No 8 Francke Horn. “You can't stand back in a SA derby. As we saw last weekend, the intensity and physicality is at Test quality.

“If we stand back and give the Stormers front-foot ball, they are going to run us ragged. SA derbies bring unique challenges. It is always physical, both teams want to dominate set pieces and good defence. We can’t stand back and will have to take the game to them.”

Lions scrum coach Julian Redelinghuys needs little reminding of Malherbe’s enduring quality. Two Rugby World Cup winners medals have made him arguably the game's pre-eminent tight head.

“One of the unsung heroes of SA,” said Redelinghuys of Malherbe. “I can say I had the privilege to play with him at the Springboks. What a gentleman. He is one of the heroes of SA and doesn’t get the credit. Recently he has been getting more credit.

“He is such a champion of SA rugby. It is a great achievement. What does it take to get to 150 games? I don’t know, I didn’t get there.

“He has been so consistent over the years. He was one of the players I had to compete against to become a Springbok but he was one of the guys I admired — his work rate and off-the-ball stuff. You can look at his scrums and he is solid there. His work rate and the way he serves his teammates, for me what has been most impressive about him.”

Though Malherbe has a formidable reputation, he hasn’t had things all his own way this season.

He might be cast in the role of wounded buffalo this weekend after the Stormers pack got gored in the scrums by the Bulls in last weekend’s derby in Cape Town. The Bulls dominated the set pieces but Redelinghuys has no doubt Malherbe and co will be desperate for improvement at Ellis Park.

“That goes without saying,” he said. “If it doesn’t go well in a particular department in a game you throw extra focus that way when you prepare for the next game.

“Given the proud pack they are, they’ll definitely work hard and have a hard review to find out why things didn’t go their way. They’ll come out with a huge drive to be better this weekend.”

Redelinghuys made the point there is no shame in coming off second-best against the Bulls. “We played the Bulls the previous week and they have a tough pack. If you don’t get your stuff right on the day, you will go backwards.”

Victory for the Lions, while denying the Stormers a bonus point, will see the home team leapfrog the Cape side on the points table.

Redelinghuys, however, does not fixate over the log. “You can get tied up with the log. To obsess about the win and the log is not going to do the business on the day. We want to focus on our processes. If the guys bring the energy with that, it should be enough on the day.”