Lions back hooker depth ahead of Jukskei Derby

THE Lions remain confident in their hooker stocks, despite the recent injury-enforced retirement of Jaco Visagie, as they gear up for a challenging run of fixtures, starting with Saturday's United Rugby Championship Jukskei derby against the Bulls at Loftus.

- ROWAN CALLAGHAN

Stalwart forward Visagie, 33, called time on his career earlier this month, after failing to recover from a long-term neck injury.

But with first-choice hooker PJ Botha on the mend, and Franco Marais, Morne Brandon and Griquas loanee Janco Uys among their options, Lions assistant coach Barend Pieterse is confident the Joburg side has enough cover in the position to navigate a packed upcoming schedule that includes crunch URC and EPCR Challenge Cup encounters.

“I think a few weeks back, it would have been a different discussion, but PJ is coming back from injury. He started training and he'll hopefully be back in the next week or two.

“Janco is giving us good cover there as well” Pieterse told a Lions online media briefing this afternoon, alongside skipper Francke Horn.