Lions aim to 'finish on a high' as Nkosi tweaks team
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: Lions head coach Mziwakhe Nkosi has made a few changes to his starting team as they aim to finish as high as possible in the Currie Cup standings.
The Lions can still mathematically make the semifinals.
They will need a big win against Griffons and then they will need every other fixture in the final round to go their way – with Griquas, the Bulls and WP losing their respective games – to have any chance of progressing to the play-offs.
“It’s our fourth game away so we are pretty used to being on the road,” said Nkosi.
“The big focus is to finish on a high and finish in the highest possible place [in the standings].
“Mathematically there are permutations that can see us in the semifinal, but we can’t control that.
“The biggest focus is to finish on a high and finish positively. We just got to make sure that we can control what we can control.
“We are excited with the team that we have put out.”
There is one change in the backline with Rynardt Jonker coming in to replace Marius Louw in the midfield.
In the pack, Emmanuel Tshituka takes over the No.7 jersey from Ruan Venter and in the front row Jaco Visagie replaces Morne Brandon at hooker.
Visagie also takes over the captaincy from Louw.
Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Boldwin Hansen, 13 Manuel Rass, 12 Rynardt Jonker, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Gianni Lombard, 9 Sanele Nohamba, 8 Francke Horn, 7 Emmanuel Tshituka, 6 Johannes Pretorius, 5 Darrien-Lane Landsberg, 4 Ruben Schoeman, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 Jaco Visagie (captain), 1 Rhynardt Runsburger.
Replacements: 16 Pieter Botha, 17 Morgan Naudé, 18 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 19 Raynard Roets, 20 Travis Gordon, 21 Morné van den Berg, 22 Tyler Bocks, 23 Stean Pienaar.
Date: Friday, June 9
Venue: North West Stadium, Welkom
Kick-off: 15.00 (13.00)
Referee: Aimee Barrett-Theron
Assistant Referees: Phumzile Mbewu, Jonathan Lottering
TMO: AM Jacobs
