The Emirates Lions will be hoping that the latest injury to their pivot Kade Wolhuter is not as serious as initially expected, especially as the unbeaten side head off on their three match Vodacom United Rugby Championship tour of Europe from Tuesday.
The Lions pivot, who has had a horrible history with injuries, and moved to the Lions after almost never playing for the Stormers because of that, limped off after 33 minutes in their incredible 55-12 win over Edinburgh in Johannesburg on Saturday.
Wolhuter was hurt after helping out with the Lions’ fifth try of the half, as they surged to a 48-0 halftime lead - the biggest ever in the competition’s history for a single half, and now concerns are that he may have another long layoff.
Wolhuter had just returned weeks earlier from another injury and there is a real concern that it may stunt the growth in a promising career.
Coach Ivan van Rooyen praised his cameo, and the way he put his team on the front foot with visionary play in the time he was on the field.
“Even though it was only about 35 minutes, I told him that I thought that had been his best performance in a Lions jumper by far. That’s the promise he has shown since schoolboy level. That ability to attack, to defend, to kick, to take space and make good decisions,” Van Rooyen said.
“Hopefully we pulled him soon enough. In the moment he felt something and we will only know once he’s been checked if it’s something with the muscle. So hopefully it’s not that bad.”
Van Rooyen admitted the first half performance, which stunned the rest of the competition, was as good as he had seen a Lions team play under him.
“If you are talking intensity and peddle to the metal, I would say yes. We have had a couple of good halves like this before. But in terms of being clinical and taking our opportunities, that was probably the best half since I have been in charge,” admitted Van Rooyen.
And the amazing start, to keep scoring a point per minute early in the game really helped the side.
“It was a decent start. We had good intent, good intensity and good focus. Our discipline was also really good. We managed to force our game onto them,” he explained.
“Obviously with the quality and number of internationals they have they were never going to just roll over and let you scratch their belly. They tightened up in the second half. We spoke about resetting and restarting when we got back out there but we made a couple of skill errors early on and one or two penalties went their way. They got set piece and were able to dictate the tempo and managed to squeeze us a bit.
“So I am really happy with the five points. There were a lot of good things from us, but a lot of things to work on as well.”
The victory was even more remarkable when the stats sheet comes up. According to the URC’s official stats, Edinburgh had 56 per cent possession during the game and the Lions had to make 161 tackles to Edinburgh’s 98. On defence young flanker Jarrod Cairns starred with 19 tackles - an incredible number given that Springbok Ruan Venter is already out and new signing Siba Qoma is also injured.
Van Rooyen praised the young flanker and said the Lions expected more good performances from him in future.
“Jarod played really well for us in the Currie Cup. One of his biggest benefits is he can play six, seven or eight comfortably. We have quite a few hybrids who can play that role, but Jarod has been playing good rugby and he was really good against Edinburgh,” said Van Rooyen.