DHL Stormers Will Look To Continue Dominance Against Emirates Lions

Photo Credit: Gallo Images

DHL Stormers will host the Emirates Lions today in Cape Town in the last game of Round 2 of the Vodacom Super Rugby Unlocked Series @ 19h00.

The DHL Stormers who had a bye last weekend won their match against the Emirates Lions with 34-21 at the Loftus Super Rugby Sunday. The Lions was behind with 7-20 at halftime and managed to close the gap to 21-27 before a late try by the Stormers, which did not give justice to the Lions come-back at the end.

Against the Sharks, last weekend in Round 1 of the Vodacom Super Rugby Unlocked the Lions again had a slow start and trailed 3-13 after the first half. The final score gave a win to the Sharks with 19-16 after yet another great come-back.

The starting line-up of the Lions that lost against the Stormers at Loftus Versveld shows five changes at the back and four changes upfront, while the Stormers made only two changes to their starting line-up.

John Dobson (head coach) has included seven Springboks in the DHL Stormers starting line-up for their encounter with the Emirates Lions at DHL Newlands in Cape Town on Saturday. Fit-again wing Sergeal Petersen replaces the injured Seabelo Senatla, while Bongi Mbonambi starts at hooker with Scarra Ntubeni among the replacements.

“This is our first competitive match since March, so to say that we are looking forward to it would be an understatement,” said Dobson.

The Emirates Lions made two changes to the team that lost against the Sharks last weekend. Morne van den Berg has been named to replace the injured Dillon Smit at scrumhalf in while Willem Alberts is replaced with Ruben Schoeman at lock.

Van den Berg gets a deserved start following his solid performance last week as first-half replacement for Smit, who dislocated his shoulder and will most likely miss the remainder of the local season as a result of injury rehabilitation.

DHL Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Dan du Plessis, 12 Rikus Pretorius, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Damian Willemse, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Juarno Augustus, 7 Ernst van Rhyn, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Salmaan Moerat, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Steven Kitshoff. Replacements: 16 Scarra Ntubeni, 17 Leon Lyons, 18 Neethling Fouche, 19 Chris van Zyl, 20 Nama Xaba, 21 Paul de Wet, 22 Michal Haznar, 23 Tim Swiel.

Emirates Lions: 15. EW Viljoen, 14. Jamba Ulengo, 13. Burger Odendaal, 12. Dan Kriel, 11. Rabz Maxwane, 10. Elton Jantjies (C), 9. Morné van den Berg, 8. Len Massyn, 7. Vincent Tshituka, 6. Jaco Kriel, 5. Marvin Oie, 4. Ruben Schoeman, 3. Carlu Sadie, 2. Jaco Visagie, 1. Sti Sithole. Replacements: 16. Jan-Henning Campher, 17. Dylan Smith, 18. Wiehahn Herbst, 19. Wilhelm vd Sluys, 20. MJ Pelser, 21. Hacjivah Dayimani, 22. Ross Cronje, 23. Gianni Lombard 24. Wandisile Simelane, 25. Ruan Dreyer.