New halfback pairing for Lions to face Sharks
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: Jordan Hendrikse is back at flyhalf for the Lions against the Sharks in Round 11 of the United Rugby Championship at Ellis Park on Saturday.
The young flyhalf will face his new teammates after it was announced earlier this week that Hendrikse will join his brother Jaden in Durban at the end of the season.
Sanele Nohamba, who has been doing duty with some sterling performance at No. 10 in recent weeks, is back in his familiar number nine jumper which sees Morne van den Berg move to the bench.
All three of these players have been invited to the Springbok alignment camp taking place in Cape Town this week.
Emmanual Tsthituka is back after missing the encounter with the Bulls due to injury and will earn his 50th cap in Lions colours against the Sharks. Tshituka will also join his brother, Vincent at the Sharks later in the year.
In other changes to the Lions team that lost to the Bulls a fortnight ago, Hanru Sirgel makes way for JC Pretorius at flank and PJ Botha gets a starting berth at the expense of Jaco Visagie at hooker, who will warm the bench.
Players who were not considered due to injury are Ruan Dreyer, Ruben Schoeman, Morgan Naude, and Willem Alberts.
Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Richard Kriel, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Marius Louw (captain), 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Jordan Hendrikse, 9 Sanele Nohamba, 8 Francke Horn, 7 Ruan Venter, 6 JC Pretorius, 5 Darrien Landsberg, 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3, Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 PJ Botha, 1 JP Smith.
Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Corne Fourie, 18 Conraad van Vuuren, 19 Reinhard Nothnagel, 20 Emmanuel Tshituka, 21 Hanru Sirgel, 22 Morne van den Berg, 23 Erich Cronje
Date: Saturday, March 2
Venue: Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg,
Kick-off: 15.00 (13.00 GMT)
Expected weather: The weather in Johannesburg will be very hot with temperatures reaching 32°C.
Referee: Aimee Barrett-Theron (South Africa)
Assistant Referees: Cwengile Jadezweni (South Africa), Christopher Allison (South Africa)
TMO: Ben Crouse (South Africa)
