Lions back to full strength for Stormers URC tussle

The Lions reverted to their full-strength team for their monster United Rugby Championship (URC) derby against the Stormers at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday afternoon (kick-off 3:30pm).

A second-string Lions team travelled to England over the past weekend to take on Newcastle Red Bulls in the Challenge Cup, with most of their star players left at home to make sure they are fresh for the Stormers game.

So although a completely different starting 15 will be lining up from the one that played in Newcastle, just one change has been made from the team that played Benetton in their Challenge Cup opener at Ellis Park a week earlier.

That being hooker PJ Botha, who returned from a lengthy injury that had kept him out for the start of the season, with him returning off the bench against Newcastle, and he now makes his first start of the campaign.

Franco Marais thus drops to the bench, where the only other changes to that match 23 that faced Benetton are seen, with lock Dylan Sjoblom and powerhouse flank Siba Qoma come in, to make it a six-two ‘bomb squad’ split on the bench, which is likely to combat the Stormers who are expected to do the same.

With them back in URC action the Lions will be looking to bounce back after suffering a poor start to the Challenge Cup competition, with them losing against both Benetton and Newcastle in their two matches.

Loftus win

But their last URC game, back in November, saw them stun the Bulls 43-33 at Loftus and if they can produce a similar performance to that they should be able to challenge an in-form unbeaten Stormers team.

Lions assistant coach Jaque Fourie said that the Stormers are a dangerous prospect with the way they play, and that they have a number of x-factor players, and the Lions would have to be at their best to get a win.

“They thrive off that unstructured type of game. If you don’t keep the ball and you’re not accurate, they can punish you from anywhere,” said Fourie.

“It’s about keeping the ball, being sharp with handling, and building pressure through phases. You don’t start a game against the Stormers by throwing the ball around. It’s like a (cricket) innings, you build it first.

“They’ve got effective players and we would be stupid not to look at that. But for us it’s about sticking to our structures, stopping momentum and working together. We’re going there with a mission. We want to go and beat the Stormers in Cape Town.”

Lions XV

Quan Horn, Kelly Mpeku, Erich Cronje, Bronson Mills, Eduan Keyter, Chris Smith, Morne van den Berg, Francke Horn (c), Ruan Venter, Jarod Cairns, Reinhard Nothnagel, Etienne Oosthuizen, Asenathi Ntlabakanye, PJ Botha, SJ Kotze

Bench: Franco Marais, Edward Davids, RF Schoeman, Dylan Sjoblom, Darrien Landsberg, Siba Qoma, Nico Steyn, Richard Kriel