The Windhoek Draught Griquas will host the Fidelity ADT Lions on Friday at 15:30 (SA Time) in the first action of the Currie Cup Premier Division Round 9 action, as the jostling for positions starts to get interesting, with the semi-finals slowly moving into view.
The Fidelity ADT Lions ended their three-game losing streak when they beat the defending champions in Johannesburg last week. Now that they have the strongest players from the Lions franchise in tow, they will be targeting an important win against the Windhoek Draught Griquas.
The team from the Northern Cape is coming off a disappointing loss to the Cell C Sharks in Durban. A win at home against the Fidelity ADT Lions this weekend could propel them into the top four. In the previous encounter between the two sides, they secured a 25-18 win.
Windhoek Draught Griques head coach Pieter Berg has made five changes to his starting lineup.
Up front Johan Retief is replaced by Derik Pretorius while Thabo Ndimande will make his Currie Cup debut at the side of the scrum, replacing Stephan Smit.
At the back, Ashlon Davids replaces Jay-Cee Nel who moves to the outside centre, while Rosco Specman replaces Luther Obi at the wing. The final change at the back Lubabalo Dobela replaces Eddie Fouche at flyhalf.
The Fidelity ADT Lions have made four changes to their starting line-up.
Vaughen Isaacs is promoted from the bench to replace
Andries Coetzee at fullback while Sibahle Maxwane is replaced by Stean Pienaar.
Travis Gordon moves from the side of the scrum to eightman, replacing Francke Horn while Emmanuel Tshituka slots in at seven after recovering from a hand injury.
Teams:
Windhoek Draught Griquas:15 Ashlon Davids, 14 Rosco Specman, 13 Jay-Cee Nel, 12 Tertius Kruger, 11 Sako Makato, 10 Lubabalo Dobela, 9 Johan Mulder, 8 Carl Els, 7 Harnu Sirgel (c), 6 Stephan Smit, 5 Albert Liebenberg, 4 Derik Pretorius, 3 Janu Botha, 2 Janco Uys, 1 Cebo Dlamini. Replacements: 16 Sean Swart, 17 Eddie Davids, 18 Justin Forwood, 19 Dylan Sjoblom, 20 Niel Otto, 21 Reagan Orange, 22 George Whitehead, 23 Sango Xamlashe.
Fidelity ADT Lions: 15 Vaughen Isaacs, 14 Prince Nkabine, 13 Manuel Rass, 12 Rynhardt Jonker, 11 Stean Pienaar, 10 Gianni Lombard, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Travis Gordon, 7 Emmanuel Tshituka, 6 JC Pretorius, 5 Darrien-Lane Landsberg, 4 Ruben Schoeman, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 Jaco Visagie (c), Rhynhardt Runsburger. Replacements: 16 Morne Brandon, 17 Morgan Naude, 18 Ruan Smith, 19 Raynard Roets, 20 Ruhan Straeuli, 21 Nico Steyn, 22 Tyler Bocks, 23 Tiaan Swanepoel.