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The Lions are back home this week and will host DHL Western Province at Emirates Airline Park tonight for their first home game of the Carling Currie Cup.
The Lions "surprisingly" lost in round 1 of the 2021 Carling Currie Cup in Nelspruit (39-10). Although affected by Covid19 it was the physical abuse by the Pumas which surprised the most.
Western Province was surprised by a young and inexperienced Bulls team which included 21 players who made their Currie Cup debut. The 48-24 win by Western Province was described by their head coach, John Dobson as not good enough.
In a short turn-around from their last match on Friday, the Lions welcomed back numerous players to training. These include Ruben Schoeman, Jaco Visagie and Morné van den Berg. Jannie du Plessis, Jaco Kriel, MJ Pelser, Roelof Smit and Divan Rossouw are returning to play and busy with preparations for the upcoming fixtures.
This comes at a crucial stage as the Lions are gearing up for their British and Irish Lions match which will take place in a week. It will be the first time since 2009 that Emirates Airline Park will host the British and Irish Lions.
Players like Stean Pienaar, Burger Odendaal, Sti Sithole, Courtnall Skosan and Asenathi Ntlabakanye will all be looking to make their return to the Park for this prestigious match, as well as the rest of the Currie Cup season.
There are four changes to the DHL Western Province starting line-up for their Carling Currie Cup encounter with the Xerox Lions in Johannesburg on Wednesday.
Two of the changes are in the backline and two are in the loose trio for the second match of the campaign, which kicks off at 19h00 on Wednesday at Emirates Airline Park.
Tim Swiel is at fullback, with Sergeal Petersen moving to wing in place of the injured Sihle Njezula, while Godlen Masimla starts at scrumhalf.
The two changes to the loose trio see No.8 Juarno Augustus and openside flank Marcel Theunissen come in, with Evan Roos moving to the side of the scrum.
Hooker Jason Alexander and flank De Wet Marais are in line to make their senior DHL Western Province debuts from the replacements bench.
DHL Western Province Head Coach John Dobson said that his team will need to be accurate in all areas on Wednesday.
"We know that we will need to raise our standards to make it two wins away from home on the Highveld.
"The players coming in all bring valuable experience and we will need that to get the result we are after," he said.
Lions: 15. EW Viljoen, 14. Jamba Ulengo, 13. Manuel Rass, 12. Dan Kriel, 11. Rabz Maxwane, 10. Fred Zeilinga, 9. Dillon Smit, 8. Francke Horn (capt), 7. Vincent Tshituka, 6. Sibusiso Sangweni, 5. Reinhard Nothnagel, 4. Ruben Schoeman, 3. Ruan Dreyer, 2. PJ Botha, 1. Nathan McBeth. Replacements: 16. Jaco Visagie, 17. Banele Mthenjane, 18. Carlu Sadie, 19. Ruhan Straeuli, 20. Emmanuel Tshituka, 21. Morne van den Berg, 22. Aidynn Cupido, 23. Duncan Matthews
DHL Western Province: 15 Tim Swiel, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Rikus Pretorius, 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Seabelo Senatla, 10 Abner van Reenen, 9 Godlen Masimla, 8 Juarno Augustus, 7 Evan Roos, 6 Marcel Theunissen, 5 David Meihuizen, 4 Ernst van Rhyn (captain), 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 JJ Kotze, 1 Ali Vermaak. Replacements (from): 16 Jason Alexander, 17 Leon Lyons, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Justin Basson, 20 De Wet Marais, 21 Johan du Toit, 22 Paul de Wet, 23 Cornel Smit, 24 Lee-Marvin Mazibuko, 25 Hacjivah Dayimani, 26 Niel Otto.