Lions taking no chances as Bok duo start against Bulls
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: The Lions will make the short trip across the Jukskei to take on the Bulls in Round 3 of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in the country’s capital.
Already two from two in the competition, the Johannesburg-based franhise will be looking to capitalise on their current form, especially at Loftus Versfeld where they were successful last season; claiming a 43-33 victory over Johan Ackermann’s men.
Lions head coach Ivan van Rooyen admitted that despite their win over the Ospreys last weekend, the Bulls will pose a different challenge at Loftus- a challenge his side need to be ready for.
“Accuracy is going to be massive going into the Bulls fixture,” he warned.
“It’s a typical derby; so it’s going to be a massive set piece focus and huge physicality. The Bulls have shown in recent performances that they want to play a little bit more which makes them more dangerous going into the weekend.”
Van Rooyen’s assistant and scrum coach Julian Redelinghuys echoed the views saying that SA derbies and set piece dominance tend to determine the result of the game.
“These are two proud packs of forwards,” the former Springbok prop said.
“When you play against a South African team, you can be sure that the levels of intensity will be higher, especially in the set-pieces,” he concluded.
In team news, the Lions go into Saturday with a new-look lock-pairing in the form of Dylan Sjoblom and Hyron Andrews.
There are three changes in the backline resulting in starts for Springboks Morne van den Berg at scrumhalf and Quan Horn at fullback.
Richard Kriel shifts to the wing replacing the in-form Erich Cronje due to injury. Ethan Adams plays alongside Henco van Wyk in the midfield, the latter returning to action after his head injury causing him to miss out last week (precautionary)
The bench will potentially see the injection of power and pace in the form of Batho Hlekani and Siba Mahashe respectively. Nico Steyn provides halfback cover.
Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Kelly Mpeku, 13 Ethan Adams, 12 Henco van Wyk, 11 Richard Kriel, 10 Chris Smith, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Francke Horne (captain), 7 Siba Qoma, 6 JC Pretorius, 5 Hyron Andrews, 4 Dylan Sjoblom, 3 Sebastian Lombard, 2 PJ Botha, 1 Boan Venter
Replacements: 16 Morne Brandon, 17 SJ Kotze, 18 RF Schoeman, 19 JP du Preez, 20 Batho Hlekani, 21 Siba Mahashe, 22 Nico Steyn, 23 Boeta Chamberlain.
Date: Saturday, October 10
Venue: Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Kick-off: 13.30 (11.30 GMT)
Referee: Hanru van Rooyen (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Christopher Allison (South Africa), Jonathan Lottering (South Africa)
TMO: Aimee Barrett-Theron (South Africa)
