The Lions, who have not had things go their way in their first three games on the road and have since loaned a few players from Suzuki Griquas and the Vodacom Bulls, will be hoping for better luck when they host the Scarlets at Ellis Park on Saturday, 13:45 (SA Time).
Having won four of their last six Vodacom URC home games, the Lions will enter the match against the Welsh team, who are zero from two this season, with confidence in front of their home crowd. The Scarlets are currently ranked 16th, and the Lions are ranked 15th on the United Rugby Championship log.
Furthermore, the Scarlets have won just two of their last nine clashes with South African opponents and have won just once in South Africa since 2018, but that was a few months ago, in May, against their hosts this weekend, in Johannesburg.
The two sides have met on four previous occasions with honours even at two wins apiece, but the Lions will be pushing hard to take the lead in this race.
In the Lions team news, Nico Steyn starts at halfback in place of Springbok Morne van den Berg, who came off early in the first half against Benetton last week with a hamstring strain. Lock Darrien Landsberg fills the number five jumper in place of Ruan Delport, with Reinhard Nothnagel returning from injury on the bench as lock cover. Winger Eduan Keyter also makes a return after missing out last weekend.
Scarlets' head coach Dwayne Peel has made seven personnel changes from the defeat to the DHL Stormers in round three.
Behind the scrum, Ioan Nicholas comes in at full-back with Blair Murray switching to the wing. Tom Rogers is missing because of an injury.
Macs Page is handed his first start of the season and partners skipper Johnny Williams in midfield, while there is a change at half-back with Sam Costelow linking up with Archie Hughes, who replaces Gareth Davies.
Up front, Archer Holz comes in at tight-head, packing down alongside Alec Hepburn and Marnus van der Merwe. Cuckson and Groves are named in the second row, while it’s as you were for the back row of Jarrod Taylor, Dan Davis and Taine Plumtree.
On the bench, there could be a Scarlets debut for Llandovery’s former Wales U20S second row Dan Gemine, who has been training with the squad in the opening months of the season.
Teams
Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Eduan Keyter, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Richard Kriel, 11 Angelo Davids, 10 Chris Smith, 9 Nico Steyn, 8 Francke Horn (c), 7 Ruan Venter, 6 JC Pretorius, 5 Darrien Landsberg, 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 Franco Marais, 1 SJ Kotze. Replacements: 16 Morne Brandon, 17 RF Schoeman, 18 Conraad van Vuuren, 19 Reinhard Nothnagel, 20 Jarod Cairns, 21 Layton Horn, 22 Lubabalo Dobela, 23 Kelly Mpeku.
Scarlets: 15 Ioan Nicholas, 14 Ellis Mee, 13 Macs Page, 12 Johnny Williams (c), 11 Blair Murray, 10 Sam Costelow, 9 Archie Hughes, 8 Taine Plumtree, 7 Dan Davis, 6 Jarrod Taylor, 5 Alex Groves, 4 Harvey Cuckson, 3 Archer Holz, 2 Marnus van der Merwe, 1 Alec Hepburn. Replacements: 16 Kirby Myhill, 17 Sam O’Connor, 18 Henry Thomas, 19 Dan Gemine, 20 Ben Williams, 21 Dane Blacker, 22 Joe Hawkins, 23 Joe Roberts.