Lions look to bounce back against high-flying Pumas

The Fidelity ADT Lions make their way to the Lowveld this weekend as they prepare to take on log leaders the Airlink Pumas at the Nelspruit Rugby Club on Saturday. Mziwakhe Nkosi’s men come off an unsuccessful trip to Boland last Sunday which saw his side suffer their first defeat of the season. Nkosi’s Lions now face the high-flying Pumas who are fresh from a 41-7 mauling of the Vodacom Bulls in Pretoria in Round 3 of the competition.

Reflecting on last week, the Lions’ Currie Cup mentor acknowledged that a massive improvement is required on Saturday against Jimmy Stonehouse’s troops.

“Last week’s result against Boland was not one that we wanted and certainly not a performance that we are proud of,” said Nkosi.

“We have got to make amends in terms of performance and we hope that if we do that, the result will go our way. We feel we let ourselves down in many aspects last week and it’s for us to give a positive response this weekend against Pumas.”

Nkosi identified the Lowvelder’s set-piece execution as a threat and one they are hoping to counter against come Saturday.

“We are very much aware of what we’ll be up against in terms of set-piece against the Pumas, especially looking at what they did against the Bulls last week. We are under no illusions as to the type of set-piece we are going to face as it was an effective tool for them and no doubt, they’ll be looking to employ that again on Saturday,” he warned.

In terms of personnel change, Nkosi has gone for Ruben Schoeman to partner Dylan Sjoblom in the second row. Renzo du Plessis returns to the starting line-up, so does Lubabalo Dobela at flyhalf in the place of Kade Wolhuter.

The bench is boosted by the inclusion of hooker Morne Brandon, new prop signing Sebastian Lombard and among the backs, Sam Francis and Tapiwa Mafura make their first appearances of this year’s campaign.

Kick-off at the Nelspruit Rugby Club is at 2pm.

Airlink Pumas starting XV: 15 Tino Swanepoel, 14 Stefan Coetzee, 13 Sango Xamlashe, 12 Wian van Niekerk, 11 Darren Adonis; 10 Danrich Visagie, 9 Ross Braude; 8 Willie Engelbrecht (capt), 7 Ruwald van der Merwe, 6 Ntsika Fisanti; 5 Tiaan de Klerk, 4 JJ Scheepers; 3 Sampie Swiegers, 2 Eduan Swart, 1 Etienne Janeke. Replacements: 16 Jan-Henning Campher, 17 Zuki Sali, 18 Dewald Maritz, 19 Hanno Theunissen, 20 Andre Fouche, 21 Russwill Fredricks, 22 Tiaan Pretorius, 23 Dalvon Blood.

Fidelity ADT Lions starting XV: 15 Gianni Lombard, 14 Angelo Davids, 13 Manuel Rass, 12 Rynhardt Jonker, 11 Kelly Mpeku; 10 Lubabalo Dobela, 9 Nico steyn; 8 Jarod Cairns, 7 Siba Qoma, 6 Renzo du Plessis; 5 Ruben Schoeman, 4 Dylan Sjoblom; 3 RF Schoeman, 2 Jaco Visagie (capt), 1 SJ Kotze. Replacements: 16 Moren Brandon, 17 Juan Schoeman, 18 Sebastian Lombard, 19 Johnre Stopforth, 20 WJ Steenkamp, 21 Layton Horn, 22 Sam Francis, 23 Tapiwa Mafura.

Airlink Pumas v Fidelity ADT Lions - Saturday @ Nelspruit Rugby Club, Nelspruit (2pm)

Referee: Christopher Allison

Broadcast: SuperSport Grandstand