Former Springbok Jannie du Plessis will lead out a much-changed Lions facet in Wednesday’s Currie Cup showdown with Griquas in Kimberley.
Du Plessis takes over the captaincy duties from Asenathi Ntlabakanye, and the veteran prop has his work minimize out for him motivating a younger Lions crew.
Coach Mzwakhe Nkosi has made 9 modifications to his beginning XV that features a new halfback pairing, James Tedder set to don the No 10 jersey and be partnered by scrumhalf Ginter Smuts. EW Viljoen can even present much-needed expertise at fullback.
Lunga Ncube and Simon Dinisio within the second row are the one settled mixture from the Lions’ 66-14 caning by the Free State Cheetahs on 5 March.
Lions – 15 EW Viljoen, 14 Rabz Maxwane, 13 Manuel Rass, 12 Matt Extra, 11 Divan Rossouw, 10 James Tedder, 9 Ginter Smuts, 8 Emmanuel Tshituka, 7 Ruan Venter, 6 Jarod Cairns, 5 Simon Dinisio, 4 Lunga Ncube, 3 Jannie du Plessis (c), 2 Morne Brandon, 1 JP Smith.
Subs: 16 Jacque-Louis du Toit, 17 Okuhle Siyeni, 18 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 19 ML Pelser, 20 Mark Snyman, 21 Jurich Claasens, 22 Luke Rossouw, 23 James Mollentze.
