New Lions skipper for Stormers clash
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: The Lions will have a new captain to lead them onto the field for their United Rugby Championship clash with the Stormers in Cape Town on Saturday.
Centre Marius Louw has taken over the reins as captain from Reinhard Nothnagel, who injured his ankle in the loss against the Sharks last weekend. Returning to partner Louw in the midfield is Henco van Wyk, who slots back in at 13 after missing out last week.
Among the changes are Sibahle Maxwane, who comes in for Stean Pienaar at wing, Jarod Cairns enters the fray at No.6 with Emmanuel Tshituka moving to No.8 and Ruan Venter returning at No.7 in the place of Darrien Landsberg.
Morne van den Berg will warm the bench as back-up for Sanele Nohamba and Manuel Rass completes the match 23.
Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen had a tough week, not only with a long list of injuries, but trying to sort out the cracks that appeared in the big loss against the Sharks.
“We did not have much time to fix everything and on top of that we will face a Springbok-laden Stormers team.”
There is no doubt that The Stormers will be on a quest to finish the year unbeaten at home against the side that was the last to beat the URC champs back in December 2021.
Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Sibahle Maxwane, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Marius Louw (captain), 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Jordan Hendrikse, 9 Sanele Nohamba, 8 Emmanuel Tshituka, 7 Ruan Venter, 6 Jarod Cairns, 5 Pieter Jansen van Vuren,, 4 Willem Alberts, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 Pieter Botha, 1 Jean-Pierre Smith.
Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Morgan Naude, 18 Ruan Smith, 19 Ruben Schoeman, 20 Sibusiso Sangweni, 21 Morne van den Berg, 22 Gianni Lombard, 23 Manuel Rass
Date: Saturday, 31 December
Venue: Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town
Kick-off: 19.00 (17:00 GMT)
Referee: Morne Ferreira (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Aimee Barrett-Theron (South Africa), Stephan Geldenhuys (South Africa)
TMO: Ben Crous (South Africa)
