Carling Currie Cup play-off rugby heats up this Saturday as the Fidelity ADT Lions play host to the defending champion Toyota Cheetahs in the competition’s first semi-final at Emirates Airline Park at 2.30pm.
Head Coach Mziwakhe Nkosi has tweaked his Match 23 with the inclusion of Springboks Ruan Venter and Quan Horn. Saturday also sees the inclusion of Marius Louw at centre alongside the in-form Rynhardt Jonker.
The side boasts an impressive replacements bench with the powerful Sibabalo Qoma- a previous Cheetahs man and the ever-present former Blitzbok superstar JC Pretorius, whose presence in the latter part of the competition has been impactful. Current Vodacom United Rugby Championship Player of the Tournament Sanele Nohamba is likely to feature during the later stages of the encounter.
The Currie Cup mentor was quick to warn that the Free Staters remain a quality outfit despite a few unfavourable results during the round-robin stages of the competition.
“Like any other team in the competition they’ve probably hit a bit of a dip in form at a crucial stage but that notwithstanding, they are a quality team, said Nkosi.
“If you look at players like Kasende (Daniel), Rudolph (Jeandre), Corne Fourie - who was with us last season; they are an experienced team, so we expect them to come and tear the skin off our backs.”
Captain Jaco Visagie says the squad is quite excited at the prospect of playing in a semi-final of such a prestigious tournament in front of their home fans.
“Extremely happy to be here, the squad is excited. For most of them it’s their first semi-final in the Currie Cup so that in itself is a big milestone for them. We are incredibly happy to have made it this far into the competition.”
Visagie further went onto encourage fans to come out and get behind the team on Saturday.
“We are really happy to be at home for this one and hopefully our fans will come out to support. We look forward to it,” he concluded.
Victory against the Cheetahs will see the Lions face either the Vodacom Bulls or Hollywoodbets Sharks in the final. The two teams meet in the day’s second semi-final at Loftus Versveld at 5pm.
Fidelity ADT Lions starting XV: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Rabz Maxwane, 13 Rynhardt Jonker, 12 Marius Louw, 11 Tapiwa Mafura; 10 Kade Wolhuter, 9 Nico Steyn; 8 Jarod Cairns, 7 Ruan Venter, 6 Renzo du Plessis; 5 Darrien Landsberg, 4 Ruben Schoeman; 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 Jaco Visagie (capt), 1 Morgan Naude. Replacements: 16 Morne Brandon, 17 Juan Schoeman, 18 Conrad van Vuuren, 19 Raynard Roets, 20 JC Pretorius, 21 Siba Qoma, 22 Sanele Nohamba, 23 Kelly Mpeku.
Toyota Cheetahs starting XV: 15 Michael Annies, 14 Cohen Jasper, 13 Munier Hartzenberg, 12 Evardi Boshoff, 11 Daniel Kasende; 10 Ethan Wentzel, 9 Jandre Nel; 8 Jeandrè Rudolph, 7 Oupa Mohoje, 6 Gideon van der Merwe; 5 Victor Sekekete (capt), 4 Carl Wegner; 3 Robert Hunt, 2 Corne Fourie, 1 Schalk Ferreira. Replacements: 16 Vernon Paulo, 17 Hencus van Wyk, 18 Laurence Victor, 19 Friedle Olivier, 20 Aidon Davis, 21 Marco Jansen van Vuren, 22 George Lourens, 23 Litha Nkula.
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