Lions get leadership muscle back for Durban trip
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: The Lions travel to Durban on Friday to face the Sharks for Round 10 of the United Rugby Championship.
The men from Doornfontein head into this game on the back of a four-match unbeaten streak at home in all competitions and will look to take that momentum into the local derby.
Coach Ivan van Rooyen made a number of changes to the side that beat Stade Francais in a Challenge Cup Round Two outing last week.
Lions: Rynhardt Jonker starts at outside centre in place of the injured Henco van Wyk in the only backline change.
The forwards show several changes – mostly tactical.
Influential lock Reinhard Nothnagel returns from injury and takes over the captaincy.
Ruan Venter shifts from flank to start at No.8, with Darrien Landsberg coming in at blindside flank and Emmanuel Tshituka swapping roles with Venter in a revamped loose trio.
Nothnagel’s inclusion in the second row means Pieter Jansen van Vuren drops down to the replacement bench.
Pieter Botha starts at hooker ahead of Jaco Visagie, who will also play off the bench.
Speaking earlier this week, forwards coach Albert van den Berg emphasized the need for his troops to start well in the Christmas derby.
“We know what they are going to bring,” Van den Berg said, adding: “They have a good overall kicking game, an exciting backline and a decent pack of forwards.
“It will be important for us to start well, stay in the fight as long as possible and hopefully get the win.”
Van den Berg cautioned that while a four-match unbeaten streak at home in both the URC and EPCR Challenge Cup offers decent momentum, playing the Sharks in the Tank is a different challenge.
“We don’t want to dwell too much on the unbeaten run.
“The feeling is that we can improve on certain aspects of our game from both an individual and team perspective.
“It’s going to be tough for us against a well-coached Sharks side and while we take the confidence of not having lost in recent weeks, we won’t take this occasion for granted,” he added.
Lions: 15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Edwill van der Merwe, 13 Rynhardt Jonker, 12 Marius Louw, 11 Quan Horn, 10 Jordan Hendrikse, 9 Sanele Nohamba, 8 Ruan Venter, 7 Darrien Landsberg, 6 Emmanuel Tshituka, 5 Reinhard Nothnagel (captain), 4 Willem Alberts, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 Pieter Botha, 1 Jean-Pierre Smith.
Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Sithembiso Sithole, 18 Ruan Smith, 19 Pieter Jansen van Vuren, 20 Jaco Kriel, 21 Andre Warner, 22 Gianni Lombard, 23 Stean Pienaar.
Date: Friday, December 23
Venue: Kings Park, Durban
Kick-off: 17.00 (15.00 GMT)
Referee: Aimee Barrett-Theron (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Stephan Geldenhuys (South Africa) and Paul Mente (South Africa)
TMO: Marius van der Westhuisen (South Africa)
