‘CHANCE FOR PLAYERS TO STEP UP’

LIONS coach Ivan van Rooyen has taken out the axe after last week’s heavy defeat to the Bulls and made six key changes to his side for tomorrow’s return fixture at Loftus Versfeld.

Jaco Kriel, who was a rare stand-out player for the Lions in the 34-10 loss, will captain the side.

The backline has been revamped, with Divan Rossouw and Stean Pienaar replacing EW Viljoen and Rabz Maxwane respectively, and Edwill van der Merwe shifting from the right to the left wing.

In a major blow, injured Burger Odendaal is absent and the new centre pairing is Matt More and Manuel Rass, with Wandisile Simelane dropping out of the matchday squad.

At flyhalf, the talented Tiaan Swanepoel is wisely picked ahead of inconsistent veteran Fred Zeilinga, another to vanish from the match 23.

There is one change to the pack where Ruhan Straeuli replaces Willem Alberts at lock.

“Both players and management had difficult conversations post the Bulls fixture and we felt that a better showing was required if we wanted to be competitive this week,” Van Rooyen said.

“We felt our scrums and mauls were a highlight for us against the Bulls so it’s something we would like to capitalise on come Saturday,” he added.

On team changes, Van Rooyen said: “It’s an opportunity once again for others to step up and show us what they can do on a big stage. We spoke last week about chances and how we as a group pride ourselves in creating these kinds of opportunities for players.”

Kick-off is at 3pm.

LIONS:

15 Divan Rossouw, 14 Stean Pienaar, 13 Manuel Rass, 12 Matt More, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Tiaan Swanepoel, 9 Andre Warner, 8 Francke Horn, 7 Emmanuel Tshituka, 6 Jaco Kriel (c), 5 Ruben Schoeman, 4 Ruhan Straeuli, 3 Carlu Sadie, 2 PJ Botha, 1 Sti Sithole

Subs:

16 Morne Brandon, 17 Morgan Naude, 18 Ruan Dreyer, 19 Ruan Venter, 20 PJ Steenkamp, 21 Morne van den Berg, 22 EW Viljoen, 23 Quan Horn.