Injuries force Lions coach's hand
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: The Lions have been forced into making two changes to their starting XV ahead of their rescheduled Round One United Rugby Championship encounter with the Sharks in Durban on Saturday.
The Lions, one of five teams one point away from a top-eight (play-off) spot, recorded a 38-14 rout of the Sharks in Johannesburg last Saturday.
However, they were forced to change that winning combination.
Flank Sibabalo Qoma replaces Springbok Ruan Venter in the loose forwards.
Venter is undergoing the mandatory return to play protocol after suffering a head knock against the same opposition last week.
Also in the back row, Jarod Cairns slots in for JC Pretorius – who was unavailable for selection due to an injury suffered in training this week.
Exciting backs Henco van Wyk and Quan Horn have not recovered from the injuries that ruled them out of last week’s home win.
Van Wyk and Horn, both invited to the upcoming Springbok alignment camp, have been key members of the potent Lions backline this season.
Abrasive lock Etienne Oosthuizen, another casualty of last month’s loss to the Bulls, is also still on the sidelines.
On the replacements bench, former Sharks hooker Franco Marais makes a comeback, with Morgan Naude and Conraad van Vuuren completing the front row changes.
Izan Esterhuizen and WJ Steenkamp will be introduced to provide cover in the loose trio.
Describing the week ahead of Saturday, the Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen said despite the changes in weather over the past three days on the Highveld, his team managed to prepare well overall.
“It’s been a good week for us,” Loubscher said.
“There was quite a bit of rain on Monday, so we had to train indoors, but overall, we had good training sessions on the rest of the days this week with quite a bit of focus on fixes on our side ahead of a tough encounter against the Sharks.”
Despite a convincing 38-14 victory against the men from Durban last Saturday at Lions Park, the man fondly known as ‘Cash’ said he is under no illusions of the task awaiting his side at the coast.
“New week, new challenge.
“We are under no illusion that they are going to be a lot better.
“Any SA team that’s hurting after a loss in a local derby will be more physical and up for the challenge.
“We know that it’s going to be a different first 20 to 40 minutes coming our way on Saturday so it’s important for us to be better and focus on what we want to do,” he added.
Lions: 15 Tapiwa Mafura, 14 Richard Kriel, 13 Manuel Rass, 12 Marius Louw, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Gianni Lombard, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Francke Horn (captain), 7 Siba Qoma, 6 Jarod Cairns, 5 Darrien Landsberg, 4 Ruben Schoeman, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 PJ Botha, 1 Juan Schoeman.
Replacements: 16 Franco Marais, 17 Morgan Naude, 18 Conraad van Vuuren, 19 Ruan Delport, 20 Izan Esterhuizen, 21 Nico Steyn, 22 WJ Steenkamp, 23 Rynhardt Jonker.
Date: Saturday, March 8
Venue: Kings Park, Durban
Kick-off: 14.00 (12.00 GMT)
Referee: Morné Ferreira (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Stephan Geldenhuys (South Africa), Sean Muller (South Africa)
TMO: Quinton Immelman (South Africa)
