Lions Boks to sit out away opener
CLASH: WARATAHS DESPERATE AFTER THREE LOSSES
The Lions will be without Springbok players Jannie du Plessis and Courtnall Skosan when they face the Waratahs in the first game of their Super Rugby tour of Australasia, in Sydney tomorrow.
Lions coach Cash van Rooyen announced four changes yesterday to the team who lost their last fixture against the Stormers at Ellis Park before enjoying their first bye week of the season.
“Obviously the Waratahs have lost their first three games and that will make them extremely desperate,” Van Rooyen said after naming his side.
“We are definitely expecting a physical onslaught.
“They have quality players and some of them are Test players, so they will definitely be up for the game.”
Du Plessis has been replaced at prop by Carlu Sadie and wing Skosan replaced by Jamba Ulengo, with neither Bok featuring on the bench.
Word from the camp is that the two were omitted for purely rotational purposes, getting a rest for the first game of their away trip.
At hooker, Jan-Henning Campher will get his first start at the expense of Pieter Jansen, who started the first three games of the season but has been rotated to the bench this week.
The fourth change sees scrumhalf Andre Warner returning to the starting line-up for the first time since the opening game of the Lions campaign against the Jaguares in Buenos Aires, where he picked up an ankle injury.
Warner has replaced the talented Morne van den Berg who showed a lot of energy and talent in his last two games and made an impact against the Reds and the
Stormers.
Van Rooyen has also decided to retain big Willem Alberts on the bench.
Alberts was being managed while he regained full match fitness, but he was bound to make another significant impact as a replacement.
Like in their previous match against the Stormers, Van Rooyen has opted for a 6/2 split on the bench.
The only two backs among the replacements are Van den Berg and utility back Wandile Simelane, who can play at both wing and centre.
Dan Kriel and Manny Rass have been retained by Van Rooyen
as the Lions midfield combination after Rass, in particular, performed well against the Stormers in the place of Duncan Matthews, who was left out of the touring party.