Midfield shuffle for Lions
A knee injury to Lions inside centre Alwyn Hollenbach has forced coach John Mitchell to shuffle his midfield for the basement scrap with the Blues in Auckland on Friday.
Hollenbach is on his way home after injuring his knee in the match against the Chiefs on Saturday and his place in the No.12 jersey is taken by Jaco Taute who shifts in a position while Lionel Mapoe moves off the wing to start at outside centre.
It should be a good test of Taute’s versatility as he was moved to centre from fullback earlier in the season due to injury and is likely to square up to All Black inside centre Ma’a Nonu in his first match in the position.
Mapoe’s spot on the right wing has been taken by the reliable Michael Killian, who has had limited opportunities in Super Rugby this season, and Ruan Combrinck will take his place on the replacements bench.
The forward pack that was responsible for all three of their tries against the Chiefs has been kept intact as the Lions get ready to square up to the only team below them on the Super Rugby standings.
Lions: 15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Deon van Rensburg, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Jaco Taute, 11 Michael Killian, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Ross Cronje, 8 Joshua Strauss (captain), 7 Grant Hattingh, 6 Derick Minnie, 5 Ruan Botha, 4 Franco van der Merwe, 3 Patric Cilliers, 2 Callie Visagie, 1 JC Janse van Rensburg.
Replacements: 16 Martin Bezuidenhout, 17 CJ van der Linde, 18 Cobus Grobbelaar, 19 Jaco Kriel, 20 Tian Meyer, 21 Ruan Combrinck, 22 James Kamana.
Date: Friday, May 11
Venue: Eden Park, Auckland
Kick-off: 19.35 (07.35)
Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia)
Assistant referees: Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand), Sheldon Eden--Whaitiri (New Zealand)
TMO: Ben Skeen (New Zealand)
