The Lions will celebrate fifty caps for journeyman Darrien Landsberg as they selected a strong side to face the Hollywoodbets Sharks in their Vodacom United Rugby Championship match at Ellis Park on Saturday.
Landsberg’s milestone coincides with the return of Springbok Ruan Venter to the flank and not to the lock position as was speculated earlier this week.
The remarks made by assistant coach Ricardo Loubscher at a media briefing were perhaps a bit of misdirection, but Venter’s return at flank will give the Lions a hard-running juggernaut in the starting line-up and a similar one on the bench with SA under-20 star Batho Hlekani likely to come on in the second half.
Also significant is the URC debut for talented youngster Siba Mahashe, who will fulfill the openside role for the Lions in the game, while Kelly Mpeku is back on the wing after a long injury layoff.
Earlier in the week Mahashe said while he may be 21, he is very keen to get stuck in with the derby expected to be massively physical this weekend.
“The training sessions I had with the Lions players sort of got me used to the physicality on the international stage,” Mahase said, having made his debut in the EPCR Challenge Cup against Lyon.
“In that game (against Lyon at Ellis Park), there was a jump in intensity, but I was prepared for that. Hopefully I’ve done enough in training for the coaches to see that there is something I can contribute to the team this weekend.
"I get to learn from the best of the best here, and I take everything I can from them. I appreciate getting to train with them.
“The Sharks are a very physical team, and they have a good kicking game. We’ve paid respect to that and tried to come up with plans to nullify it. If I do get a chance to play, it will be very exciting.”
The match kicks off at 2pm.
Lions: Quan Horn; Kelly Mpeku, Henco van Wyk, Bronson Mills, Angelo Davids; Chris Smith, Morne van den Berg; Francke Horn (capt), Ruan Venter, Siba Mahashe, Darrien Landsberg, Etienne Oosthuizen, Asenathi Ntlabakanye, PJ Botha, SJ Kotze.
Replacements: Franco Marais, RF Schoeman, Eddie Davids, Reinhard Nothnagel, Batho Hlekani, Renzo du Plessis, Haashim Pead, Erich Cronje.