Springbok fullback Andries Coetzee will feature in a rejigged Lions line-up to face the high-flying Pumas at the Mbombela Stadium in the Currie Cup on Friday.
Coetzee has been named to start in the No 15 jersey, alongside speedster Boldwin Hansen and Stean Pienaar at the back, while there will be a new-look centre combination of Tyler Bocks and Ryhardt Jonker from last week’s opening round defeat to DHL Western Province at Ellis Park.
Among the forwards, Darrien Landsberg returns to Nelspruit to face his former team with his lock partner Ruben Schoeman, with Jarod Cairns starting at openside flanker after an impressive stint off the bench against WP last week.
Fresh from a 63-15 victory against the Vodacom Bulls on Sunday, the Pumas have set the pace in South Africa’s premier domestic competition, but Lions forwards coach Wessel Roux believes Pride can latch onto several positives despite going down 28-44 to Province.
“It was obviously a tough start to the campaign for us,” Roux said.
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“We would have liked to have gotten a win, but I thought we played well despite small mistakes at crucial moments which resulted in the opposition scoring points against us.”
“It’s still a long competition but I believe there were quite a number of positives we can take from last week ahead of Friday against the Pumas,” he added.
Commenting on Friday’s clash, Roux said there’s not much you can fault the Pumas on when it comes to their style of play and his team would need to match them physically to gain any kind of dominance.
“The Pumas are a very good side with not many weaknesses,” he commented. They come across as a well-balanced, well coached side. They are very physical in all facets of the game coupled by their good scrums, lineout systems and maul attack play,” he added.
Lions – 15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Stean Pienaar, 13 Rynhardt Jonker, 12 Tyler Bocks, 11 Boldwin Hansen, 10 Vaughen Isaacs, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Travis Gordon (c), 7 Ruan Delport, 6 Jarod Cairns, 5 Darrien Landsberg, 4 Ruben Schoeman, 3 Ruan Smith, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 Rhynardt Rijnsburger.
Subs: 16 Morne Brandon, 17 Sti Sithole 18 Kabous Bezuidenhout, 19 Raynard Roets, 20 Ruhan Straeuli, 21 Sbu Sangweni, 22 Nico Steyn, 23 Tiaan Swanepoel.
Pumas – 15 Devon Williams, 14 Lundi Msenge, 13 Diego Appollis, 12 Ali Mgijima, 11 Jade Stigling, 10 Brandon Thomson, 9 Giovan Snyman, 8 Kwanda Dimaza, 7 Francois Kleinhans, 6 Andre Fouche, 5 Shane Kirkwood (c), 4 Deon Slabbert, 3 Njabulo Gumede, 2 Eduan Swart, 1 Corne Fourie.
Subs: 16 Llewellyn Classen, 17 Etienne Janeke, 18 Simon Raw, 19 Malembe Mpofu, 20 Ruwald van der Merwe, 21 Chriswill September, 22 Ethan Fisher, 23 Stefan Coetzee.
This weekend’s cat fight…But make it AI Art ??
Who are you backing to come out on top in Mbombela?
?: Airlink Pumas
?: @LionsRugbyCo#CurrieCup #WhereLegendsRise pic.twitter.com/IdN2cUtrj6— The Currie Cup (@TheCurrieCup) March 16, 2023
Photo: Twitter/@URCOfficial_RSA