Fidelity ADT Lions Head Coach Mziwakhe Nkosi, alongside URC head coach Ivan van Rooyen, have selected a new-look 23 as his side welcomes neighbours Vodacom Bulls to Ellis Park for Round 6 of the Carling Currie Cup on Saturday at 15:00 (SA Time).
In what has been promoted as the Festival of Rugby at the iconic venue, the franchise will showcase the best it has to offer right from their Lions u19 and u21 sides, who both face the Toyota Cheetahs' respective juniors as curtain-raiser matches in the SA Rugby Cup junior competition.
With one eye firmly focused on play-off ambitions in the Currie Cup as well as the international season starting in just under a month, Currie Cup mentor Nkosi in tandem with URC head coach Ivan van Rooyen, have, in their match 23, selected a strong group which include Springboks Quan Horn and Ruan Venter as well as new recruits Chris Smith and winger Eduan Keyter. Junior Springboks superstar Haashim Pead is also in line for his senior debut.
"We were obviously disappointed with last week's result, despite the valiant effort by the guys to come back; it certainly was not a performance we were proud of,” said Nkosi.
"This week is a different story in the sense that we need to start and finish well against Phiwe and his Bulls side who are also desperate to get points and stay in the race for play-offs," he added.
"We will use the next few rounds, certainly the next two, and hopefully the knockout stages to introduce a large part of the URC group in preparation for the intercontinental tournament that will start immediately after the Currie Cup. They have been hard at work with Ivan and his management on preparations. The upcoming games are a great opportunity for those guys to get battle hardened and still push hard for a place in the semis and hopefully the final,” he concluded.
Lions Rugby Company CEO Rudolf Straeuli stressed the importance of alignment and cohesion towards success in all domestic competitions his teams are involved in.
"With the commencement of the SA Rugby Cup (junior competitions) as well the Currie Cup nearing the business end, there will be amalgamation of management teams and particularly that of Mziwakhe’s in his capacity as Head Coach of Currie Cup and Development Rugby and a large part of his management teams who have both served in the Currie Cup as well as the junior teams in a similar fashion to the previous season,” Straeuli explained.
“Van Rooyen, in his capacity as URC head coach alongside his management, will play a more pronounced role with the introduction of these players,” he concluded.
Matches start at 10:00 (Fidelity ADT Lions u19 vs Toyota Cheetahs u19) followed by Fidelity ADT Lions u21 vs Toyota Cheetahs u21 at 12:00.