Lions keen to use comforts of home to bounce back against Scarlets

Lions head coach Ivan van Rooyen’s charges are back at Ellis Park this Saturday for Round 4 of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship where they will lock on horns with the Scarlets from Wales.

Returning from a challenging three-week tour where they faced Cardiff Rugby, Zebre and Benetton in the opening three rounds, the men from Johannesburg are backing themselves to register their first win of the international season against their opponents from Llanelli.

Lions assistant coach Ricardo Loubscher was upbeat this week praising the energy of the squad despite the challenging tour.

“The energy within the camp is good," he commented. "We can’t wait for Saturday, it’s great to be back home.”

Loubscher gave some insight this week on the team’s approach and how preparations have gone ahead of Scarlet’s visit to Ellis Park.

“We know that it’s going to be a tough challenge on the weekend. Scarlets present a different approach defensively, so from an attack point of view we need to be ready for that," he cautioned.

“Our training this week was focused mainly on simulating the pressure we can expect from the opposition in terms of defense and attack pictures, in order for the players to get a feel of what it will be like come Saturday," he concluded.

Scarlets head coach Dwayne Peel said: “The Lions are always a difficult proposition at home, you are playing at altitude and it is a place where they look to run teams off their feet, they are also a physical, athletic team so we will have to manage that. Winning here last season was big for us and a lot of the boys here were part of that squad. We have to bring the same physicality and intensity again. Ellis Park is one of the great rugby stadiums, always a great place to play. We have been disappointed with the results so far but we are only two games in, it is a long season and things can change quickly in rugby.”

In team news, Nico Steyn starts at halfback in place of Springbok Morne van den Berg who came off early in the first half against Benetton last week with a hamstring strain. Lock Darrien Landsberg fills the No 5 jumper in place of Ruan Delport, with Reinhard Nothnagel returning from injury on the bench as lock cover. Winger Eduan Keyter also makes a return after missing out last weekend.

Layton Horn provides halfback cover with Kelly Mpeku also included in the match 23.

Kick-off at Ellis Park is at 1.45pm.

Lions starting XV: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Eduan Keyter, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Richard Kriel, 11 Angelo Davids; 10 Chris Smith, 9 Nico Steyn; 8 Francke Horn (capt), 7 Ruan Venter, 6 JC Pretorius; 5 Darrien Landsberg, 4 Etienne Oosthuizen; 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 Franco Marais, 1 SJ Kotze. Replacements: 16 Morne Brandon, 17 RF Schoeman, 18 Conraad van Vuuren, 19 Reinhard Nothnagel, 20 Jarod Cairns, 21 Layton Horn, 22 Lubabalo Dobela, 23 Kelly Mpeku.

SATURDAY

Lions v Scarlets

Ellis Park, Johannesburg – KO 12.45pm IRE & UK/1.45 ITA & SA

Referee: Eoghan Cross (IRFU, 31st league game)

AR 1: Griffin Colby (SARU) AR 2: AJ Jacobs (SARU)

TMO: Sam Grove-White (SRU)

Live on: SuperSport, Premier Sports, TG4, Flo Rugby & URC.tv