Van the Man back for the Lions

The Emirates Lions welcome Edinburgh to Emirates Airline Park this Saturday for Round 3 of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship. Kick-off in Johannesburg is scheduled for 1.45pm.

Springbok Edwill van der Merwe makes his way back into the starting XV after recovering from an ankle injury he sustained in Round 2 of the Carling Currie Cup back in July. The speedster says he is grateful to be back even though he has been involved with the team during his rehabilitation.

“Really happy to be back this weekend, said Van der Merwe. I was fortunate enough to still be in the mix by being in team meetings, so it was good for me to be able to get my detail while I was busy with my rehab.

“A massive thank you to the Lions medical staff who worked hard to get me back onto the field, so I’m grateful to them for the opportunity to play on Saturday.”

Also back from national duty is scrumhalf Morne van den Berg who slots into the halfback position combining with Kade Wolhuter. JC Pretorius comes in for Ruan Venter who came off against Ulster last week with a suspected shoulder niggle.

Looking at Edinburgh, Emirates Lions assistant coach Ricardo Loubscher says Saturday’s opponents are a dangerous outfit when given time and space, meaning defense becomes vital for his team.

“If you look at the back three, they are quite unstructured, so you don’t want to give them too much time and space to have a go at you. Our plan is to really make sure that we take the time and space away. In saying that, we need to be on point on our defense by making sure that we reset quickly by getting our defensive lines organized because they are a dangerous team in broken field,” he warned.

The team plays their final URC home fixture of the year this Saturday as Ivan van Rooyen’s squad will embark on a three-week tour to Wales, Italy and Ireland starting next week.

Emirates Lions starting XV: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Rabz Maxwane, 13 Erich Cronje, 12 Rynhardt Jonker, 11 Edwill van der Merwe; 10 Kade Wolhuter, 9 Morne van den Berg; 8 Francke Horn (capt), 7 Jarod Cairns, 6 JC Pretorius; 5 Darrien Landsberg, 4 Reinard Nothnagel; 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 PJ Botha, 1 Juan Schoeman. Replacements: 16 Franco Marais, 17 Heiko Pohlmann, 18 Conraad van Vuuren, 19 Ruben Schoeman, 20 Renzo du Plessis, 21 Sanele Nohamba, 22 Marius Louw, 23 Henco van Wyk