The Emirates Lions will be hoping to continue their unbeaten run this Saturday as they take on Zebre in Round 5 of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in Parma. Kick off at Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi is at 13:30 (SA time)
Head coach Ivan van Rooyen has switched up his starting XV to face the Italians with a noticeable change in the midfield which sees Marius Louw and Henco van Wyk combine for the first time this season. Both have had impressive cameos off the bench in recent matches and will be tasked with bringing pace and physicality come Saturday afternoon.
Richard Kriel will come up against his former team after returning from a shoulder injury which kept him out of action for nearly three months. The elusive winger will run out in his familiar No14 jersey.
Current Vodacom URC Player of the Season Sanele Nohamba returns to the playmaker role alongside Morne van den Berg who retains his position at halfback.
Describing the conditions ahead of Saturday, Lions defence coach Jaque Fourie says they are expecting a bit of rain which will require his side to adapt and execute a suitable strategy.
“They said earlier in the week already that it is going to come down with a lot of rain, so we are quite comfortable to go into a kicking battle and playing in the right areas of the field – and then also to keep the ball through a lot of phases to score tries when we are in those areas.”
The former Springbok centre also cautioned not to look too far head, but instead to focus on getting over the Italians first.
“As players and coaches, those are the teams you want to play against, to measure yourself. If and when we win this weekend, next weekend is probably a top-of-the-table clash against Leinster – so we will give it our all against them next week.
“But we first need to do the job this weekend. Zebre are not an easy team, and if we are going in with that mindset – that it’s just going to be a walk in the park – we will be making a big mistake,” he concluded.
Elsewhere, Conraad van Vuuren replaces Asenathi Ntlabakanye (concussion) and Ruben Schoeman starts for the injured Darrien Landsberg.
Emirates Lions: 1. Juan Schoeman, 2. Jaco Visagie, 3. Conraad van Vuuren, 4. Ruben Schoeman, 5. Reinhard Nothnagel, 6. JC Pretorius, 7. Jarod Cairns, 8. Francke Horn (c), 9. Morne van den Berg, 10. Sanele Nohamba, 11. Edwill van der Merwe, 12. Marius Louw, 13. Henco van Wyk, 14. Richard Kriel, 15. Quan Horn. Replacements: 16. PJ Botha, 17. Heiko Pohlmann, 18. RF Schoeman, 19. Ruan Delport, 20. Renzo du Plessis, 21. SNico Steyn, 22. Erich Cronje, 23. Rabz Maxwane.