The Lions are taking a big risk in giving several youngsters an opportunity against a Pumas side who sent the Bulls "youngsters" home with a 44-14 hiding a few weeks ago. The two teams will meet in the opening match of the Preparation Series on Friday night @ 19h00.
After the Pumas match in the Unlocked series against the Lions was cancelled due to Covid, the teams finally met in Nelspruit during the Currie Cup when the Lions earned a narrow 33-25 victory.
NNC Pumas head coach Jimmy Stonehouse made several changes to the side that lost to the Lions. The return of Eddie Fouche (flyhalf) and Le Roux Roets (lock) who come back from injuries will play a major role in the performance of the Pumas.
“Our preparation for this new series has been focused on our first game against the Lions and the boys are working hard and are convinced they will be able to give the Lions a good run,” said Stonehouse.
“We don’t have the large squads that the bigger unions have and we also don’t have the prospect of playing in an international competition like the Rainbow Cup.”
“But we want to use this series as proper preparation for the Currie Cup and we can only do that if the bigger unions field their best teams,” Stonehouse said.
The newly appointed Lions head coach Mziwakhe Nkosi's team is one with exciting youth mixed with experience as back up on the bench.
Ivan van Rooyen, who will assist Nkosi, said that the senior players only returned to the Lions this past week after a period of rest.
"They will only be available for selection in week three or four. This will allow us to give the players that did not get much game time in the Super Rugby Unlock and Currie Cup competitions, to put the established players under pressure with their performances.
The Lions’ find of the season, Tiaan Swanepoel will make a telling shift to flyhalf, where he played as a schoolboy and during a stint in Australian club rugby. EW Viljoen will move to fullback, although his preferred position is the outside centre.
Francke Horn, Roelof Smit and Marnus Schoeman make up an exciting breakdown trio while Reinhard Northnagel will captain the team from the lock.
The exciting Emmanuel Tshituka, the younger brother of Vincent, also gets a start while players like Dameon Venter and Banele Mtjenjane will look to impress in the front row from the bench.
Lions vs NNC Pumas: 15. EW Viljoen, 14. Prince Nkabinde, 13. Manuel Rass, 12. James Mollentze, 11. Divan Rossouw; 10. Tiaan Swanepoel, 9. Morné van den Berg, 8. Francke Horn, 7. Roelof Smit, 6. Marnus Schoeman, 5. Reinhard Nothnagel (captain), 4. Emmanuel Tshituka, 3. Wiehahn Herbst, 2. PJ Botha, 1. Nathan McBeth. Reserves: 16. Dameon Venter, 17. Banele Mthenjane, 18. Jannie du Plessis, 19. Ruhan Straeuli, 20. MJ Pelser, 21. Dillon Smit, 22. Luke Rossouw, 23. Ngia Selengbe, 24. Ruan Dreyer, 25. Izan Esterhuizen, 26. Sibusiso Sangweni.
NNC Pumas: 15. Devon Williams. 14. Luther Obi, 13. Alwayno Visagie, 12. Wayne van der Bank, 11. Etienne Taljaard, 10. Eddie Fouche, 9. Giovan Snyman, 8. Willie Engelbrecht, 7. Ewart Potgieter, 6. Daniel Maartens, 5 Pieter Jansen van Vuren (c), 4. Brandon Valentyn, 3. Ig Prinsloo, Simon Westraadt, 1, Morgan Piek. Replacements: 16. AJ le Roux, 17. Liam Hendricks, 18 Dewald Maritz, 19. Le Roux Roets, 20. Kwanda Dimaza, 21. Ginter Smuts, 22. Ali Mgijima, 23. Tapiwa Mafura.