Marius Louw
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flyhalf sharks curwin bosch says ex-partner Marius Louw he is a dangerous man ahead of the teams’ URC derby at Ellis Park on Saturday.
Midfielder Louw, 27, has been on the Sharks’ books since 2014 before joining the Lions last year.
He has made a significant impact in Johannesburg and has taken over the captaincy in recent weeks after injury to lock down Reinhard Nothnagel.
“It’s strange to see Marra (Louw) in a different jersey … we started our careers together on the Sharks,” Bosch told reporters Tuesday.
“He’s a great player…he’s tough, tough, and any team will get high work rate and physicality out of him. It’s just a matter of us stopping that and minimizing or taking away his space.”
The Lions have a few former Sharks among their ranks, with experienced forward Willem Alberts, young lock Emile van Heerden and scrum-half Sanele Nohamba now plying their trade in Johannesburg.
“We know what to expect from the Lions. They like to play an expansive style of rugby at home when they have the altitude factor in their favour,” Bosch added.
“They have some quality players and obviously a couple of our veterans who will play against us. It will be a good physical and set-piece challenge for us.”
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The Sharks were beaten 46-19 at home by the Stormers in their last outing. Bosch said that he addressed the mistakes made in that crash.
“That performance was way below our standards, especially at home,” Bosch said. “We had an in-depth review of what went wrong and nothing went our way on the day.
“We made mistakes that we normally wouldn’t make and a good team like the Stormers will punish you for those mistakes.
“We just couldn’t get going because of those mistakes and our discipline let us down as well. We were always on the defensive because of the penalties we were taking, so it was very difficult to get back into the game.”
“Getting off to a good start is very important to us. We want to get to the park and start fast, good and with a good execution of our game plan.”
The Sharks rank eighth (33 points) in the URC standings with seven wins from 12 games, while the Lions rank 13th (24 points) with five wins from 12 games.
Saturday’s game at Ellis Park begins at 3:00 p.m.
