Lebanon and South Africa ready to go again

Correspondent

South Africa and Lebanon are gearing up for the second leg of their World Cup 2017 qualifying tie, which takes place in Pretoria on Saturday afternoon.

Lebanon won the first leg of the tie 40-12 at the same venue last week, and South Africa will need to win this game by 29 points if they are to progress to the World Cup.

“After Sunday’s game the Rhino players had a lot of small injuries,” said South Africa Rhinos assistant coach Drikkies Mulder.

“On Monday we had a good recovery session and overall we’ve had a hard week at practice, with a lot of defence and communication drills.

“The players had a good and hard talk about the job at hand this Saturday and there is a positive attitude in the Rhino camp.”

Lebanon are missing co-captain Ray Moujalli, who has a gashed leg, but are in confident mood after winning the first leg.

“Preparations have been good,” said Lebanon assistant coach Chris Salem.

“We are settled in here [at Pretoria’s High Performance Centre] after a few days acclimatising to the conditions. The facilities are great and the boys are looking well.

“It took a couple of days for them to get over Sunday’s match, which was played under a hot sun and on a hard ground, but they are feeling bright and ready to go.

“We have not been too worried about the team getting carried away. Everybody’s focusing on the task at hand and what they are doing. There’s absolutely no issue with us thinking the job is done at all.”

SOUTH AFRICA SQUAD

Jaice Terblanche (Barberton Bulldogs RLC), Marcell Viljoen, Rudolph Prinsloo, Theo Rhodes (Bears RLC), Shuab Samaai (Cape Town Hyenas RLC), Jason King (Emerald Tigers QRL), Deon Kramer, Jean Coetzer, Jean Pierre Nel (Harlequins RLC), Louis Musson (Parramatta RL NSWRL), Bradley Williams, Halvor Harris (Perth RL), Shane Gillham (Titans RL QRL), Christo Louw, Dwayne Botma, Johan Joubert, Ruaan Du Preez, Rupert Wells (UP-Tuks RLC), Gideon Mzembe (Wynnum Manly QRL)

LEBANON SQUAD

Mark Daoud (Asquith Magpies), Richard Coorey, Ead Kassem, Elias Sukkar (Auburn Warriors), Ali Allouche (Canterbury Bulldogs), Chris Saab (Guildford Owls), James Boustani (Hills), Ray Finan, Robin Hachache, (Immortals RLFC), Travis Robinson (Melbourne Storm), James Elias (Newcastle Knights), Daniel Abou-Sleiman, Ahmed Ellaz, Tarek El Masri (Newtown Jets), Nick Kassis, Mitchell Mamary (Wentworthville Magpies), Toufic El Hajj, Wael Harb (Wolves FC), Adham El Zbaidieh (Unattached)

A livestream of the game can be accessed here: http://www.asiapacificrl.com/2015/10/30/livestream-south-africa-v-lebanon/

(Kick off: 1pm United Kingdom, 3pm South Africa, 3pm Lebanon)