The Emirates Lions have made one change to their side that beat the DHL Stormers in their Vodacom United Rugby Championship derby last week for this week’s trip up the N1 to face the Vodacom Bulls at Loftus Versfeld.
With JC Pretorius injured, Jarod Cairns comes into the back row to slot into the partnership with captain Francke Horn and Springbok flanker Ruan Venter with coach Ivan van Rooyen keeping the rest of the team unchanged.
Cairns has been a regular in the team and his presence will make the breakdown battle rather interesting as both sides need to win the match.
On the bench there are a few changes, Morgan Naude and Conraad van Vuuren come into the front row replacements, with SJ Kotze and RF Schoeman dropping out of the 23, while Siba Qoma also returns to fill the hole left by Cairns. Renzo du Plessis makes it a six-two bench for the Lions as they look to repeat their win in Pretoria from two years ago.
Joburg, here’s your Emirates Lions 23 repping the red side of the Jukskei this Saturday at Loftus.🔴🦁
— Lions (@LionsRugbyCo) February 21, 2025
🆚 @BlueBullsRugby
🗓: Sat, 22 Feb
⏰: 14:00
🎟️: https://t.co/ljJc58myLJ
🏟: Loftus Versfeld
#LIOvBUL#ForOurCity@vodacom #URC | #HitsDifferent
#LionsPride🦁 pic.twitter.com/6icpJTr6eR
The Lions also released an injury list that includes Reinhardt Nothnagel, Bronson Mills, Rabz Maxwane, Ruhan Straeuli, Erich Cronje, Raynard Roets, Rynhardt Jonker and Morne Brandon but gave no indication as to how long these players will be out of action.
Emirates Lions: Quan Horn; Richard Kriel, Henco van Wyk, Marius Louw, Edwill van der Merwe; Gianni Lombard, Morne van den Berg; Francke Horn (captain), Ruan Venter, Jarod Cairns, Darrien Landsberg, Etienne Oosthuizen, Asenathi Ntlabakanye, PJ Botha, Juan Schoeman.
Replacements: Jaco Visagie, Morgan Naude, Conraad van Vuuren, Ruan Delport, Siba Qoma, Renzo du Plessis, Nico Steyn, Mannie Rass.