Emirates Lions head coach Ivan van Rooyen’s side will be looking to bounce back against French opponents Section Paloise on Saturday in Round 2 of the EPCR Challenge Cup. Kick off at Emirates Airline Park is at 5.15pm.
Back from a challenging away outing against Ospreys last week Sunday, the Johannesburg side are relying on home support in what will be their final home game for 2024.
The Lions mentor has taken a rotation approach by including the bulk of the side who featured against Munster in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship.
Centre Marius Louw leads from the inside centre position alongside last week’s starter Erich Cronje. Speedster Rabz Maxwane forms a formidable back three with the returning Edwill van der Merwe and last week’s starting fullback Tapiwa Mafura.
Amongst the forwards, WJ Steenkamp retains his spot after an impressive shift against the Ospreys. Jarod Cairns and Francke Horn complete the back row.
Assistant coach Ricardo Loubscher says a major focus leading up to Saturday was recovery with further emphasis on cohesion and alignment.
“We feel a win is not enough. We need to make sure we put up a good performance against Pau on Saturday,” said the former Springbok fullback.
“Key focus for us this week was on recovery. We had a few guys who flew back to South Africa after the Munster game, so they’ve recovered and trained well this week.”
“Hopefully we can find cohesion and execute the plans we’ve put in place ahead of Saturday,” he concluded.
Emirates Lions starting XV: 15 Tapiwa Mafura, 14 Rabz Maxwane, 13 Erich Cronje, 12 Marius Louw (capt), 11 Edwill van der Merwe; 10 Sam Francis, 9 Morne van den Berg; 8 Francke Horn, 7 WJ Steenkamp, 6 Jarod Cairns; 5 Reinhard Nothnagel, 4 Ruben Schoeman; 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 PJ Botha, 1 Juan Schoeman. Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 SJ Kotze, 18 RF Schoeman, 19 Ruan Delport, 20 JC Pretorius, 21 Nico Steyn, 22 Kade Wolhuter, 23 Manny Rass.
Match Information – EPCR Challenge Cup Round 2
Emirates Lions v Section Paloise - Saturday @ Emirates Airline Park, Johannesburg (5.15pm)
Referee: Anthony Woodthorpe
TV: SuperSport
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