Lions eager to roam

Currie Cup history is dotted with young flyhalves producing dazzling play-off performances to steer their side to the title.

Lions vs  Sharks

Just like Patrick Swayze once observed, that "nobody puts Baby in a corner'', Lions coach Johan Ackermann yesterday rejected the notion that his players can be confined.

"We can't put these players in a box. They don't like it. They want to express themselves," Ackermann said ahead of tomorrow's Currie Cup semifinal against the Sharks at Ellis Park.

But Ackermann says there is a caveat.

"It is a semifinal, so you have to be calculated about when you are going for the points. In the round robin you tend to kick to the corner and play on. I will trust [captain] Warren's [Whiteley] decisions ," the coach said.

Whiteley wants to avoid being weighed down by the sense of the occasion, and perhaps justifiably so, as the Lions have won just two of their last seven semifinals.

The Sharks have won five games from their last eight. They possess the big-match pedigree.

"It is a semifinal but sometimes you need to take the emotion out of it and see it as a must-win," said Whiteley.

It is the Sharks' ninth consecutive semifinal but their first away from King's Park since 2006 and Ackermann thinks the 2.30pm kick-off will help make Ellis Park inhospitable for the visitors.

But so settled is his team that he has made just one change, by reintroducing Kwagga Smith to the bench to help reinforce breakdown superiority and support running in far-flung areas of the field. But in enlisting Smith, Ackermann will go into the contest a front-ranker light.

He wants his starting front row to break the back of the visitors.

"Our scrum has been dominating all year. Hopefully, the guys who start and a guy like Julian (Redelinghuys) will give us that first phase base."

WP vs Bulls

Western Province will rely on their defensive system to pressure Blue Bulls centre Handré Pollard in tomorrow's Currie Cup semifinal at Newlands.

Pollard was named at inside centre as one of two changes to the Bulls backline from last week and is one of the key figures.

Currie Cup history is dotted with young flyhalves producing dazzling play-off performances to steer their side to the title.

Naas Botha, Derick Hougaard and Pat Lambie are just three who have made their mark in this competition at the business end and Pollard could join them.

Pollard looms as the potential match-winner and much will depend on whether he is stifled.

If so, then Western Province will march to the final, but if Pollard can dictate, the Bulls' unlikely comeback will continue.

Pollard recently stretched the All Blacks to breaking point at Ellis Park, scoring two tries with a breathtaking individual display that confirmed his status as one of rugby's brightest young talents.

"Pollard is a special player because you don't become a Springbok at his age without something special in your make-up.

"He has a good rugby brain and it will be a challenge for us, but the Bulls won't play differently whether Pollard is at 12 or at 10," Western Province coach Allister Coetzee said.

"We won't put special attention on Pollard because that would provide space for players outside him."