The Emirates Lions have selected a youthful midfield for their Vodacom United Rugby Championship match against the Dragons on Saturday.
Junior Bok midfielder Henco van Wyk partners with Matt More after the Lions left their regular midfielders in Burger Odendaal and Wandisile Simelane at home.
The fact that both the latter are moving to new teams has not gone unnoticed, and the Lions have clearly decided to look to the future in order to find replacements with the playoffs out of the picture.
Reinhard Nothnagel’s chances of being a future long-term captain for the Lions increased as he will lead the team out in Newport as well.
"As mentioned last week, it gives us an opportunity as a franchise to cast our eye towards the future, and we believe that this group will form part of that core,” coach Ivan van Rooyen said.
"They'll be a few guys in the match 23 who will be relishing the opportunity to make a name for themselves against international opposition."
"In saying that, Dragons will be a tough outfit to play at a vibrant Rodney Parade. We've planned and trained well this week so the guys we’ll be up for it come Saturday,” concluded Van Rooyen.
Elsewhere, exciting loose forward Jarod Cairns and gifted tighthead prop Asenathi Ntlabakanye could make an appearance from the bench.
Kick-off is at 16:00 SA time.
Emirates Lions: Quan Horn; Stean Pienaar, Henco van Wyk, Matt More, Edwill van der Merwe; Jordan Hendrikse, Morne van den Berg; Francke Horne, Vincent Tshituka, Sibusiso Sangweni, Reinhardt Nothnagel (captain), Ruan Venter, Ruan Dreyer, Jaco Visagie, JP Smith.
Replacements: PJ Botha, Sti Sithole, Asenathi Ntlabakanye, Ruben Schoeman, Jarod Cairns, Andre Warner, Mannie Rass, Tiaan Swanepoel.