Johannesburg - The Lions will turn to Mziwakhe Nkosi again in this year's Currie Cup to coach them to success in South Africa's premier domestic rugby competition.
In a season they would want to forget, the Johannesburg side ended last in the competition in 2022 with Nkosi's side winning only two out of their 12 games that year.
They also finished bottom of the table in 2021 scoring the same number of wins in 12 matches.
Unlike last year, when the Currie Cup overlapped with the inaugural United Rugby Championship season, Nkosi will have senior URC players available to him.
But he will most likely only be able to call on these players once their URC and European Challenge Cup campaigns are something of the past.
"Mziwakhe is the head coach and we will make use of the same management team," Rudolf Straeuli, Lions CEO, said about this year's Currie Cup tournament.
South Africa's oldest rugby competition is scheduled to start next month with the Lions facing Western Province at Ellis Park in their opener. Six days later they will travel to Mbombela to face current champions the Pumas.
The Lions have already started preparing for the competition with their juniors expected to get an extended run in the first games.
"A lot of players who have been playing URC and EPCR will be playing in the Currie Cup. We also have a lot of young players who were blooded in last year's Currie Cup, so we have them as well," Straeuli added.
The Lions are still in the hunt for a top 8 place in the URC for a chance to play in the coveted European Champions Cup. If that does not work out this year, they'll be back in the Challenge Cup.
They play Racing92 on 1 April at Ellis Park in the knockouts of the Challenge Cup. On the same day, the Currie Cup side will face the Sharks in Durban.
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Straeuli says they won't necessarily look to add players to fill gaps just because they may have money, especially because his chairman 'runs a tight ship’.
But the Lions will look at what's needed in their stocks before making any decisions to spend money.
IOL Sport