Lions back home for duel with Pumas

The Fidelity ADT Lions are back at 10bet Ellis Park this Saturday for their Round 2 Carling Currie Cup encounter against the Airlink Pumas from Mbombela. Both teams have quite a bit to play for after close losses in their opening rounds of the competition.

Head coach Mziwakhe Nkosi, upon reflection, believes last week’s tightly contested fixture against the Toyota Cheetahs in Bloemfontein yielded quite a few positives ahead of the remainder of the tournament.

“The result was obviously not what we wanted but there were some great things we took away from it,” said Nkosi.

“The Pumas are a very good outfit and we would need to work on our discipline, as that aspect was our undoing last week,” he warned.

Despite the narrow loss, the Lions mentor is consistent with his theme of grooming the next generation of Lions players.

“You’ve got to put it into context - to head into the competition with a young team, away from home first up and to walk away with two points isn’t a shabby result. There are plenty of positives to go forward with,” he concluded.

In team news, Nkosi has made two changes in his starting group from last week. Junior Springbok Mahle Sithole comes in at hooker for Armand Combrink who suffered a niggle. Another junior international in the form of Thando Biyela joins the back row in place of Renzo du Plessis who drops to the bench. New recruit Asad Moos could make his club debut for the Lions if called upon from the bench.

Kick-off at 10bet Ellis Park is at 3pm.

Fidelity ADT Lions starting XV: 15 Latica Nela, 14 Keegan Smith, 13 Likhona Finca, 12 Rynhardt Jonker, 11 Rabz Maxwane; 10 Sam Francis, 9 Zian Cilliers; 8 Morne Venter, 7 Jarod Cairns, 6 Thando Biyela; 5 Ruan Delport (capt), 4 Dylan Sjoblom; 3 Conraad van Vuuren, 2 Mahle Sithole, 1 Morgan Naude. Replacements: 16 Ruan Welman, 17 Cecil Parsons, 18 Ruan Swart, 19 Marco Ferreira, 20 Renzo du Plessis, 21 Asad Moos, 22 Matthew Coetzee, 23 Exauce Kevani.