PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA – MAY 01: Vincent Tshituka of the Lions attacking run during the PRO14 Rainbow Cup SA match between Vodacom Bulls and Emirates Lions at Loftus Versfeld Stadium on May 01, 2021 in Pretoria, South Africa. (Photo by Gordon Arons/Gallo Images)
Lions not giving up on Tshituka brothers
The Lions will not give up on the availability of the Tshituka’s joining up with the rest of the squad ahead of their United Rugby Championship (URC) game.
PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA – MAY 01: Vincent Tshituka of the Lions attacking run during the PRO14 Rainbow Cup SA match between Vodacom Bulls and Emirates Lions at Loftus Versfeld Stadium on May 01, 2021 in Pretoria, South Africa. (Photo by Gordon Arons/Gallo Images)
The Lions will not give up on the availability of the Tshituka’s joining up with the rest of the squad ahead of their United Rugby Championship (URC) game.
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The Lions are set to face Leinster on Friday night and as it stands, will be without the Tshituka brothers.
Both Tshituka brother’s denied
Tshituka brothers, Vincent and Emmanuel were set to jet off to Ireland with the rest of the Lions side, to take on the Irish giants. It then emerged, however, that the duo would not be able to board the plane, due to what the Lions explained as “unforeseen circumstances”.
Born outside the country
The Tshituka brothers were both born in the Democratic Republic of Congo and having both of encounter travel document issues, suspicions have since arisen as to whether that has anything to do with the issue. It would still be a strange one, with the brothers having previously travelled with the Lions for their first foreign foray in the URC late last year.
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They did run in to some difficulties this time around and Lions backline coach, amongst other titles, Ricardo Laubscher has insisted that they still have not given up hope of having the Tshituka brothers in Ireland ahead of the Leinster fixture.
Lions still hopeful
“We are dealing with it. We are waiting for a confirmation. Behind the scenes we are working on it and hopefully we can get a good outcome, It is something we are dealing with internally, sorting out all the paperwork around their visas. Some things are out of our hands. We must sort out our preparation. It will be tough not to have them. They are two quality players. We would love to have them, especially against a team like Leinster.”Laubscher said as per TimesLIVE.
Vincent is said to be a player who the Lions have been trying to secure South African documents for, and it may well be the case for his brother Emanuel too. Could that have played a role?
