JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - APRIL 18: Morne Van Den Berg of Lion scores during the United Rugby Championship match between Fidelity SecureDrive Lions and Glasgow Warriors at Ellis Park on April 18, 2026 in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Photo by Daniel Hlongwane/Gallo Images)
The Lions have suffered a major blow ahead of their first appearance in the United Rugby Championship (URC) playoffs, after it was confirmed on Monday that scrumhalf Morné van den Berg had flown home to recover from a bicep injury.
Van den Berg was replaced at halftime during their match against Munster in Limerick on Saturday, and it seems that the injury is serious enough to warrant him returning to South Africa for treatment, rather than staying with the squad ahead of their quarterfinal match against Leinster in Dublin next weekend.
It hasn’t been officially confirmed yet, but it is unlikely that Van den Berg will recover in a week and return to the squad in Ireland ahead of next Saturday’s encounter.
He will thus likely miss the game, along with utility forward Ruan Venter, who the Lions said would be assessed this week to ascertain the severity of the knee injury he picked up in their pool match against Leinster a week and a half ago.
In slightly more positive news, but still concerning, captain Francke Horn and centre Henco van Wyk have stayed with the squad in Dublin, but will undergo scans on Tuesday to determine the extent of their injury problems.
Horn suffered a hamstring injury and was replaced in the first half against Munster, while Van Wyk limped off with an ankle problem late in the second half, but coach Ivan van Rooyen said after the game that he was hopeful that both could recover in time for the knockout match.
Better news
Meanwhile, the Lions have received good news that loose forward Siba Mahashe has been cleared of an alleged spitting incident in the game against Munster on Saturday.
In the second half of the match, Munster replacement hooker Diarmuid Barron alleged that he had been spat on by Mahashe, with a lengthy break taken as the TMO tried to find footage of the incident.
Once no footage had been found, referee Andrea Piardi ordered the game to continue and said that the incident would be referred to the citing commissioner after the match for further investigation.
On Monday the Lions released a statement from the URC citing commissioner stating:
The video evidence is inconclusive and there is no clear and obvious spitting action by (No) 6 Lions.
The audio statement by 16 Munster is clear and he states that 6 Lions spat into his mouth but the audio statement from 6 Lions contradicts this and he states that he had trouble with his gum shield after the upright contact before the ruck. He categorically denied the accusation of spitting.
As there is no video evidence to support the accusation, I am of the opinion that a citing is not feasible in this case.
