Defence coach Jaque Fourie says the Lions can’t afford to lose star players like Edwill van der Merwe.
The Springbok wing will join the Sharks at the end of the season having opted not to renew his contract at the Joburg-based franchise.
Van der Merwe follows in the footsteps of other Lions stars, loose forwards Vincent and Emmanuel Tshituka and flyhalf/fullback Jordan Hendrikse, who swapped the Big Smoke for Durbs.
“We have to try to keep our talent here and ensure that all the players in the group improve,” Fourie told Netwerk24.
“It was difficult to lose experienced senior men like Willem Alberts and Jaco Kriel in the past few seasons.
“The Lions are going to have to retain the right group of players for the next few seasons, to some extent, as happened in 2013,” added Fourie, referring to a rebuilding era for the Lions that began with winning a Super Rugby promotion-relegation tie against the Kings and culminated in three successive Super Rugby final appearances from 2016 to 2018.
“There are a few young players like [loose forward] Renzo du Plessis who have come to the fore this season. Hopefully we can produce a few more Springboks in the next two, three seasons.”
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The Lions are currently 13th on the Vodacom URC log and need bonus-point wins in their remaining regular-season matches against the Scarlets at Ellis Park on Sunday and Ospreys next Saturday to have any chance of reaching the quarter-finals for the first time.
“There were some really good performances and then games that we didn’t expect to lose,” said Fourie of their frustratingly inconsistent season.
“There are three or four games that we should have won. Then our position on the points table would have looked much better.
“We would like to know at this stage [of the season] that we have a good chance of qualifying.”
Photo: Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images
