Reinhardt Nothnagel returns to the Emirates Lions side to face Racing 92 in the team’s EPCR playoff match at Emirates Airline Park this weekend.
Nothnagel was a star substitute in the team’s come from behind win over Benetton last weekend in Treviso and will take up his spot in the team again. Marius Louw will keep the captaincy.
Nothnagel will partner Willem Alberts in the second row while the rest of the side remains unchanged for the clash against one of the top French sides.
Earlier this week attack coach Ricardo Loubscher said that Racing 92 were a dangerous side to face.
“The biggest thing with them is that, if you look at the French national team and how they play, you can see that style of play filtering down to the domestic clubs,” Loubscher said.
“From our point of view, we want to focus on ourselves, but we know that they are a dangerous side. It’s all about expecting the unexpected.
“Wneed to prepare for a massive kicking game as well as a team that is willing to run from their own 22m line. It’s hard to prepare for that but from our point of view, it’s important that we are ready for anything they throw at us on Saturday.”
“The big thing for us is to just take one more step forward in terms of how we want to play. We want to make sure that we force our strengths onto them. So let’s see, maybe we can put them under pressure with our ball-in-hand style as well as our kicking game.”
Meanwhile Racing 92 have picked a strong side including Springbok Warrick Gelant at 13 and former Sharks lock Anton Bresler in their starting XV, but no Trevor Nyakane. The side also sports French test No.8 Cameron Woki in their staring line-up.
Teams
Lions: Quan Horn, Rabz Maxwane, Manuel Rass, Marius Louw (c), Edwill van der Merwe, Gianni Lombard, Sanele Nohamba, Francke Horn, Ruan Venter, Emmanuel Tshituka, Reinhard Nothnagel, Willem Alberts, Asenathi Ntlabakanye, PJ Botha, JP Smith
Replacements: Morne Brandon, Rhynardt Rijnsburger, Ruan Dreyer, Ruben Schoeman, Travis Gordon, Morne van den Berg, Rynhardt Jonker, Andries Coetzee
Racing 92: Louis Dupichof; Donovan Taofifenua, Warrick Gelant, Oliver Klemenczak, Juan Imhoff; Ben Volavola, Nolann le Garrec; Cameron Woki, Maxime Baudonne, Wenceslas Lauret (captain), Anton Bresler, Anthime Hemery, Ali Oz, Peniami Narisia, Thomas Moukoro.
Replacements: Jonathan Maiau, Guram Gogichashvili, Biyi Alo, Fabien Sanconnie, Ibrhaim Diallo, Martin Meliande, Max Spring, Asaeli Tuivuaka.