Emotional Lions get captaincy boost
The Lions shift their focus to the United Rugby Championship after an emotional and dramatic week.
The Lions meet league leaders Edinburgh in the Scottish capital in a URC Round Four match on Friday.
The Johannesburg-based side have endured a very difficult last few days with the tragic passing of teammate Hyron Andrews ahead of their Champions Cup fixture against French giants La Rochelle.
Despite the devastating loss of a dear member of the squad, assistant coach Julian Redelinghuys was appreciative of all the love and support shown by the international rugby community during the team’s difficult time.
“To say it was a rough week is probably an understatement, but the support we received from almost everyone was huge,” said Redelinghuys.
“The sorrow everyone felt, and the way it was handled, felt authentic.
“The way it was handled – locally, abroad, our leadership, coaches and management and players – felt really respectful and that gave us, to a big extent, some closure.”
Looking ahead to Friday in Edinburgh, the Lions will be pleased with the return of their regular skipper Francke Horn, who missed out on his side’s Champions Cup opener last weekend.
Batho Hlekani gets a start in place of Siba Qoma, who suffered a head knock and therefore serves the necessary concussion protocols.
The Lions will go into Friday’s Round Four fixture with a little insight courtesy of prop Boan Venter, who spent close to five seasons at Edinburgh before making the move back to South Africa and the Lions.
Redelinghuys says they have been tapping into Venter’s insights ahead of Friday’s outing.
“He’s got some interesting insights – from knowing the players well, the coaches, the field, the environment and the weather well,” said Redelinghuys.
“He’s got some good opinions, which is helping us in our prep. One comment he made is we’ll maybe be playing the first half and come out after half-time, the weather’s totally different.”
“With the Edinburgh-Stormers game [in round two], we saw that the wind was pumping in the first half and in the second half it faded,” he concluded.
Elsewhere, Nico Steyn gets a start at scrumhalf. PJ Botha is set to provide energy from the bench at hooker together with Siba Mahashe and Zian Cilliers (scrumhalf)
Lions 23: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Kelly Mpeku, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Bronson Mills 11 Erich Cronje, 10 Chris Smith, 9 Nico Steyn, 8 Francke Horne (captain), 7 Batho Hlekani, 6 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 5 Ruan Delport, 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3 Conraad van Vuuren, 2 Morné Brandon, 1 Boan Venter.
Replacements: 16 PJ Botha, 17 SJ Kotze, 18 RF Schoeman, 19 Dylan Sjoblom, 20 Siba Mahashe, 21 Zian Cilliers, 22 Richard Kriel, 23 Boeta Chamberlain.
Date: Friday, October 23
Venue: Edinburgh
Kick-off: 19.45 (20.45 SA time; 18.45 GMT)
Referee: Peter Martin (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Mike Adamson (Scotland), Rob McDowell (Scotland)
TMO: Mark Patton (Ireland)
