Lions coaches, Johan Ackermann and Russel Winter, have named the 2 sides which will face the Southern Kings in Port Elizabeth and Polokwane respectively, to take on the Southern Kings and Vodacom Blue Bulls.
Ackermann, who is in charge of the Super Rugby group, has announced a 23-man side to face the Southern Kings in Nelson Mandela Bay, this Saturday.
Several players that Ackermann opted to rest for last weekend’s warm-up, against the Leopards/NWU-Pukke, will make the trip down to the Eastern Cape. Julian Redelinghuys, Franco van der Merwe, Jaco Kriel, Warren Whiteley, Michael Bondesio, Marnitz Boshoff and Andries Coetzee will all start this weekend’s match.
In other changes, Willie Wepener is promoted to the starting XV as Robbie Coetzee provides cover on the wood.
In the backline, Lionel Mapoe comes in at outside centre as JW Jonker is moved to the bench. Chrysander Botha will also start at wing for this fixture.
The match will kick off at 17:00 SA Time.
Lions team vs Southern Kings:
Lions: 15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Chrysander Botha, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Stefan Watermeyer, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Marnitz Boshoff, 9 Michael Bondesio, 8 Warren Whiteley (Captain), 7 Derick Minnie, 6 Jaco Kriel, 5 Franco van der Merwe, 4 Rudi Mathee, 3 Julian Redelinghuys, 2 Willie Wepener, 1 Schalk van der Merwe
Replacements: 16 Robbie Coetzee, 17 Jacques van Rooyen, 18 Corne Fourie, 19 Willie Britz, 20 Warwick Tecklenburg, 21 Faf de Klerk, 22 Willie du Plessis, 23 JW Jonker.
Golden Lions Vodacom Cup head coach, Russell Winter, has named a 26-man team captained by Guy Cronje, which will travel Polokwane to face the Vodacom Blue Bulls this Saturday.
The match will kick off at 14:30 SA Time.
Golden Lions vs Vodacom Blue Bulls:
Golden Lions: 15 Ruan Combrinck, 14 Deon van Rensburg, 13 Stokkies Hanekom, 12 Alwyn Hollenbach, 11 Vainon Willis, 10 Guy Cronje (Captain), 9 Ross Cronje, 8 Ruaan Lerm, 7 Cyle Brink, 6 Stephan de Witt, 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Martin Muller, 3 Bees Roux, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Charles Marais
Replacements: 16 Mark Pretorius, 17 David Kounga, 18 Pieter Vorster, 19 MB Lusaseni, 20 Lourens Erasmus, 21 Lambert Groenewald, 22 Jano Venter, 23 Ricky Schroeder, 24 Kobus de Kock, 25 Deon Helberg, 26 Brendon Hewitt.
Interesting choice at centres for both sides, in fact I would have swopped the 2 centre pairings arouund.
The bunch who will play the Southern Kings have a very complete starting forwards pack, good scrummie, excellent choice at flyhalf and the back three will be competent.
The bunch who will play the Vodacom Blue Bulls are a bit iffy in the forwards and of course I think the 2 Cronje brothers are utter crap, but the rest of the backline are competent.
@ grootblousmile:
My thoughts exactly. JA may be wanting to give both centre pairs a decent run together to gauge his options for the SR proper.
How the pairings perform this week will in all likelihood dictate what he’ll do against the Guppies next week.
What is it with the Lions and brothers? First the Rose siblings who lasted about 50 years longer than their “sell by date”, and now the Cronje brothers.
Then they send Tiaan Meyer off to Kimberley! Ek verstaan nie meer nie. I must just be dof. (And I got >30% in my last exam!)
These two Lions squads could enable them to put together a half decent SR group.
However the same old weaknesses of the last 5 – 6 years still seem to be there.
Lack of depth at line-out; Lack of depth at half back. If a couple of the midfield get injured, that could cause problems as well.
I’m not too worried about the props, but line-out throwing is something that will give me heartburn every weekend for the next 6 months.
If the loose forward combination v the Kings clicks, it could be devestating, if not though, and Minnie neglects the defensive aspect of the 7 jersey, it could be a raging disaster.
If the Lions don’t manage to beat the Kings by more than the Cheetahs did last week, the media will be in a feeding frenzy despite the fact that the game counts for absolutely ZIP.
3 @ Scrumdown:
I have figured out why the centre pairings have been chosen the way they were… Stefan Watermeyer is a Pumas centre and could not have played for the Golden Lions in the other match against the Blue Bulls in Polokwane… same with some other players (like JW Jonker on the bench).
So I recon they have decided to keep Stokkies Hanekom and Alwyn Hollenbach together as a centre pairing, in the same game, to give them the needed time to combine and gel together.
4 @ grootblousmile:
Very astute observation.
As I’ve said elsewhere, WTF do I know anyway?
Ross Cronje is nippy around the fringes, and while his passing is still a bit south of snappy, on last year’s evidence, he has worked on that aspect of his game. I haven’t seen enough of Guy at 10 to make any judgement.
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