The Emirates Lions gave starts to prop Morgan Naude and flanker Hanru Sirgel ahead of Sunday’s Vodacom United Rugby Championship clash against Benetton Rugby in Treviso.
Sirgel, who played for the Bulls at junior level and is on loan from Griquas for the URC, gets his first start for the Lions, while Naude was rewarded for his performance off the bench last week when they lost by a single point to Edinburgh.
The Lions have had two close losses in this year’s Championship, but feel they are close to getting a victory, even though Benetton are likely to be a much tougher nut to crack early in the season.
Last weekend’s draw with champions Munster showed just how they can grind it out and they will be looking for a home win against the touring Joburg side.
Reflecting on the Edinburgh match, defence coach Jaque Fourie believes while chances were created by his troops, it’s often teams that make the most of those opportunities who end up victorious on the day.
“Last week was all about small margins. If you go and look at last week’s game against Edinburgh, we had our chances and the ones they had they capitalised. There are minor things we can fix but at the same time, we take quite a bit of positives out of that as you don’t just go to Edinburgh and beat them there.”
Fourie was impressed with Benetton’s performance against Munster last weekend.
“We had a look at Benetton against Munster last weekend. They are a team that has evolved their playing style in that they don’t play with the ball too much, instead they play in the right areas of the field.
“Conditions-wise, we’ll be playing on a normal pitch which means it could be slippery and wet. It’s going to be a physical, arm wrestle type of game for 80 minutes and the team that uses their chances will come out on top.”
Blitzbok star JC Pretorius is on the bench after flanker Ruan Venter missed out on selectio with a toe injury.
Emirates Lions: Quan Horn; Richard Kriel, Henco van Wyk, Marius Louw (captain), Edwill van der Merwe; Jordan Hendrikse, Sanele Nohamba; Francke Horn, Emmanuel Tshituka, Hanru Sirgel, Darrien-Lane Landsberg, Ruben Schoeman, Ruan Dreyer, PJ Botha, Morgan Naude.
Replacements: Jaco Visagie, Corne Fourie, Asenati Ntlabakanye, Willem Alberts, JC Pretorius, Morne van den Berg, Rynardt Jonker, Andries Coetzee.