At a glance
Ben Smith (captain), Waisake Naholo, Matt Faddes, Malakai Fekitoa, Patrick Osborne, Lima Sopoaga, Aaron Smith, Luke Whitelock, James Lentjes, Elliot Dixon, Tom Franklin. Alex Ainley, Josh Hohneck, Ash Dixon, Daniel Lienert-Brown. Reserves: Greg Pleasants-Tate, Aki Seiuli, Ross Geldenhuys, Joe Wheeler, Liam Squire, Dan Pryor, Te Aihe Toma, Marty Banks. he is reinstated on the openside flank for co-captain Shane Christie.
Lentjes only started for the first time this year against the Jaguares in the penultimate round of the regular season but successfully made the adjustment from training and club rugby to keep the more dynamic Dan Pryor in reserve.
Tongan prop Siosuia Halanukonuka was the only injury casualty from the quarterfinal with an ankle injury ruling him out for the remainder of the campaign, he is replaced on the bench by Ross Geldenhuys.
As forecast when he joined the team en route to South Africa, back-up first five-eighth Marty Banks returns from a hamstring strain for his fifth appearance of a season frustrated by injury.
Banks replaces rookie Otago pivot Fletcher Smith while the starting backline is predictably unchanged.
Meanwhile, the Lions are confident they can bounce back from a 34-15 loss to the Highlanders on March 12 in Dunedin, where they were outscored four tries to two the round after they upset the Chiefs in Hamilton.
Attack coach Swys de Bruin said a video review of that loss – and their performance in eliminating the Crusaders last weekend – indicated the squad was ready to combat another Kiwi side.
‘‘I showed the guys a few clips of when we played them and they couldn’t believe the basic mistakes we made,’’ De Bruin told Supersport.
‘‘We were not good at a few fundamentals. We did not protect our ball well, we gave away some bad turnovers, we didn’t pick our running lines well.
‘‘From that point of view we’ve improved a lot,’’ he said, admitting they were too slow to adapt to the Highlanders’ defensive systems at Forsyth Barr Stadium.
‘‘In that game they didn’t use the rush defence before then so they outsmarted us that day.’’ The Lions are yet to finalise their line-up and are anxious for captain and key loose forward Warren Whiteley to overcome a calf strain.