{"id":134094,"date":"2019-04-05T18:21:55","date_gmt":"2019-04-05T16:21:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/preview-cell-c-sharks-vs-emirates-lions-featured-durban-blog\/"},"modified":"2019-04-05T18:21:55","modified_gmt":"2019-04-05T16:21:55","slug":"preview-cell-c-sharks-vs-emirates-lions-featured-durban-blog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/preview-cell-c-sharks-vs-emirates-lions-featured-durban-blog\/","title":{"rendered":"Preview: Cell C Sharks vs Emirates Lions \u2013 Featured Durban Blog"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/sharksrugby.co.za\/preview-cell-c-sharks-vs-emirates-lions-2\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Preview: Cell C Sharks vs Emirates Lions<\/a>: <\/p>\n<p>The Cell C Sharks face a huge test of character and passion when we visit the Emirates Lions in Johannesburg later this evening looking for a strong performance in a local Vodacom Super Rugby derby match.<\/p>\n<p>The Lions have been the dominant South African force in the competition in recent years and again this year are in a good position at this early stage, leading the South African Conference.<\/p>\n<p>The Cell C Sharks have a proud history in the tournament with numerous final appearances and would like nothing better than to emulate former successes again this year, but know that this crunch match against the Lions takes on huge demands.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>What They Said:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis weekend you\u2019re going to get two teams who want to chase possession and really challenge each other with the ball which suits us. We\u2019re up against a team that\u2019s all about position, looking to use the ball as much as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cell C Sharks assistant coach David Williams<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt doesn\u2019t get any easier, this is a tough assignment. The Lions are on a high, we\u2019re playing in Johannesburg and we know how tough it is up there. They have good players, the Lions are a good team but we have to concentrate on what we have to do and not focus too much on them.\u201d<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cell C Sharks head coach Robert du Preez<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have a good opportunity against the Lions, we do need to stamp our authority a bit more, especially against the South African sides, and everyone is up for the challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cell C Sharks tighthead prop Thomas du Toit<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Teams:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Lionel Mapoe plays in his 99th Vodacom Super Rugby match, while Malcolm Marx captains the side in the place of injured eighthman Warren Whitely and Marx is sure to test a youngster in the Cell C Sharks side, Kerron van Vuuren, who is one of two changes to the starting line-up, the other being Curwin Bosch, selected at fullback.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Some History<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The last match between the two sides (round two in 2018) was a Cell C Sharks victory at Jonsson KINGS PARK, a 31-24 win over the Lions.<\/p>\n<p>Overall, the teams have met 21 times with the Lions winning nine of those matches and the Cell C Sharks 11. There has been just one draw between the sides.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>A Few Stats:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Clean Breaks*:<\/p>\n<p>Cell C Sharks: 9.3 Lions: 9.8<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Offloads*:<\/p>\n<p>Cell C Sharks: 8.2 Lions: 6.3<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Penalties Conceded*:<\/p>\n<p>Cell C Sharks: 8.7 Lions: 8.7<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Tackle Percentage:<\/p>\n<p>Cell C Sharks: 85% Lions: 85%<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Lineout Success:<\/p>\n<p>Cell C Sharks: 85% Lions: 91%<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Scrum Success:<\/p>\n<p>Cell C Sharks: 92% Lions: 93%<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>*Ave per game<br \/><strong>Head to Head:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>2017: Lions 34 \u2013 29 Cell C Sharks<\/p>\n<p>2017: Cell C Sharks 10-27 Lions<\/p>\n<p>2017: Lions 23 \u2013 21 Cell C Sharks<\/p>\n<p>2018: Lions 26 \u2013 19 Cell C Sharks<\/p>\n<p>2018: Cell C Sharks 31 \u2013 24 Lions<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Match Info:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Referee: \u00a0Mike Fraser<\/p>\n<p>Kick-off: Friday 5 April<\/p>\n<p>Time: 7.10pm<\/p>\n<p>Venue: Emirates Airline Park<\/p>\n<p>The post <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" href=\"http:\/\/sharksrugby.co.za\/preview-cell-c-sharks-vs-emirates-lions-2\/\">Preview: Cell C Sharks vs Emirates Lions<\/a> appeared first on <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" href=\"http:\/\/sharksrugby.co.za\">Sharks Rugby<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Fill in the form below to have your blog featured on MyDurban \u2013 we will post a snippet and title link to your new blog posts.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Submit and get free press releases here:<\/strong> <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/mypr.co.za\/submit\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">MyPR Free Press Release<\/a> | <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/mydurban.co.za\/meet-some-of-our-durban-bloggers\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Meet the Durban Bloggers<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Preview: Cell C Sharks vs Emirates Lions: The Cell C Sharks face a huge test of character and passion when we visit the Emirates Lions in Johannesburg later this evening looking for a strong performance in a local Vodacom Super Rugby derby match. The Lions have been the dominant South African force in the competition [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18],"tags":[8275,3335,953],"class_list":{"0":"post-134094","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-durban","7":"tag-durban","8":"tag-mydurban-co-za","9":"tag-newspaper","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134094\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}