Lions make big changes for Bulls clash
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: Lions head coach Ivan van Rooyen named a new-look matchday 23 ahead of his side’s return leg trip to Loftus in Round Nine of the United Rugby Championship.
Disappointed with his team’s outing at Ellis Park last week, van Rooyen is adamant that his team has the ability to up the ante against their neighbours from across the Jukskei.
“Both players and management had difficult conversations post the Bulls fixture and we felt that a better showing was required if we wanted to be competitive this week,” he said.
“We felt our scrums and mauls were a highlight for us against the Bulls so it’s something we would like to capitalize on come Saturday.”
On team changes van Rooyen said: “It’s an opportunity once again for others to step up and show us what they can do on a big stage. We spoke last week about chances and how we as a group pride ourselves in creating these kinds of opportunities for players.”
Springbok Jaco Kriel takes over the captaincy reigns from Burger Odendaal who suffered a head injury last Saturday.
Tiaan Swanepoel gets his chance at pivot, with centre Matt More being afforded a starting berth after touring with the squad in September last year.
Exciting prospects PJ Steenkamp and Quan Horn are also in line to make their URC debuts off the replacements bench.
Lions: 15 Divan Rossouw, 14 Stean Pienaar, 13 Manuel Rass, 12 Matt More, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Tiaan Swanepoel, 9 Andre Warner, 8 Francke Horn, 7 Emmanuel Tshituka, 6 Jaco Kriel (captain), 5 Ruben Schoeman, 4 Ruhan Straeuli, 3 Carlu Sadie, 2 Pieter Botha, 1 Sithembiso Sithole.
Replacements: 16 Morne Brandon, 17 Morgan Naude, 18 Ruan Dreyer, 19 Ruan Venter, 20 PJ Steenkamp, 21 Morne van den Berg, 22 EW Viljoen, 23 Quan Horn.
Date: Saturday, February 5
Venue: Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Kick-off: 15.00 (13.00 GMT)
Referee: Aimee Barrett-Theron (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Rasta Rasivhenge (South Africa), Ashleigh Murray (South Africa)
TMO: Marius van der Westhuisen (South Africa)
