Minnie the man to lead Lions

Derick Minnie will captain the Golden Lions against Western Province in their table-topping clash at Newlands on Saturday.

Lions coach Johan Ackermann has had to reshuffle his loose trio following the loss of Warren Whiteley to the Springboks, with Minnie the sole survivor from the 60-19 win over the EP Kings.

Jaco Kriel, who scored a hat-trick in the nine-try rout, has been relegated to the bench, with Ackermann instead opting for Warwick Tecklenburg and Willie Britz to complement his new captain.

Those are the only changes to a fairly settled combination.

The Lions head to Cape Town in the hope of overturning their poor record at Newlands, having won just one of their last seven visits in the Currie Cup.

Golden Lions – 15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Lionel Mapoe, 13 Stokkies Hanekom, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Ruan Combrinck, 10 Jaco van der Walt, 9 Ross Cronjé, 8 Willie Britz, 7 Warwick Tecklenburg, 6 Derick Minnie (c), 5 Franco Mostert, 4 MB Lusaseni, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 Robbie Coetzee, 1 Schalk van der Merwe.
Subs: 16 Armand van der Merwe, 17 Jacques van Rooyen, 18 Martin Muller, 19 Jaco Kriel, 20 Guy Cronje, 21 Kwagga Smith, 22 Howard Mnisi.

Currie Cup teams (Round 3)

Photo: Duif du Toit/Gallo Images