Lambie is resilient – Gold
Cell C Sharks director of rugby Gary Gold believes Pat Lambie’s resilience will help him through an injury-plagued period of his career.
The Sharks captain missed the first eleven rounds of Super Rugby after picking up a nasty preseason shoulder injury. He made a marked difference to the Sharks in the three matches he played but his season was interrupted again when he was concussed in the Springboks’ first Test against Ireland last month.
The Springbok pivot is still showing concussion symptoms and will miss the penultimate round of Super Rugby this weekend. In what really is the business end of the competition, his availability would have been a massive boon to the Sharks. The Durban outfit must win their two remaining games in order to secure a playoff spot.
“Obviously at the beginning of the week it was disappointing to find out that Patrick wasn’t going to make it. But there was always that outside chance that he may not be right,” Gold said.
Lambie has had a torrid time with injury over the past two years. It’s hard not to draw comparisons to English legend Jonny Wilkinson, who had his fair share of injuries over the years. But Gold is confident that Lambie will bounce back.
“Luckily he is a very strong character; he’s got a very strong mind as well. It’s disappointing, we’ve all read the stories of the disappointments that a guy like Jean de Villiers has had in his career but he was resilient,” Gold said.
“He ended his career on a high as a great Springbok – and Patrick is just having a little bit of a run at the moment. The same can be said of a guy like Cobus Reinach. They are great players, great human beings but they are just having a tough time at the moment.”
“Pat’s disappointed to be missing out, the door was open for him to stamp his mark on being the Springbok flyhalf and obviously captain of the Sharks. We miss him terribly at the moment but from our point of view as a family, we’ve got to support him – his health is the most important thing.”
“Our priority is letting Pat get better as soon as possible and when he is back and symptom free, then he will be welcomed with open arms. He’s still got a lot of years to play; this should hopefully just be a speed bump.”
Lambie should shake off his knock by next week in the hopes of being available for the Sharks clash with the Sunwolves. If the Sharks manage to get into the knockout phases, Lambie should be back to steer the ship.
The Sharks face the Cheetahs in Durban this Saturday. Kickoff is at 19h10.
Twitter - @gazza_jenks @ECRSportswave
Facebook - ECRSportswave