The Emirates Lions' 153kg tighthead prop, Asenathi Ntlabakanye said during a media interview that those big hits that he has become famous for really gets him going.
“For me to really get going, obviously as a prop, I need to win the collisions to get the guys around me hyped up and myself hyped up as well. I am really more a collision type of guy, I pride myself on that,” Ntlabakanye explained.
“Especially a game like that at Loftus. It’s something I can’t explain man, it’s, ja, like I said, I really pride myself… As a backline player the chances of me getting there were probably slim, so I kind of had to read it and see it before he saw me. So it was quite something to see," referring to when Vodacom Bulls winger Sergeal Petersen was at the receiving end of one of those collisions with the big prop.
Ntlabakanye also said that the Emirates Lions can’t wait to improve on their last outing and turn the tables on the Vodacom Bulls at the Emirates Airline Park, following their close 28-30 loss in Pretoria a few weeks ago.
“It’s quite simple, it’s a derby game and it’s quite big for us and we know that if we don’t replicate or do better than what we did at Loftus we’re not going to come up on top."
“I think it’s a big responsibility for the forwards but one that we’re to step to and accept."
Looking at the game coming up this Saturday, it is clear that the Lions want to take their physicality to the next level.
“Even though we were quite happy, we weren’t satisfied with our set-piece performance, it was not quite up to our standard, we felt it was an average performance,” Ntlabakanye said.
“So there are a few things we need to work on, especially in the scrums. I think when you have a team like the Bulls under pressure, you need to keep them there. A few times we let them get out of the pressure, so as a forward pack, it is something we looked at in the past two weeks and going into this game.”
“We’re not there yet but there’s certainly glimpses of what we’re capable of. We’re slowly building … Hopefully you can see more of those glimpses this weekend.”
