Ntlabakanye to bring up 50 against Dragons

One of the most popular members of the Emirates Lions pack - tighthead prop Asenathi Ntlabakanye - will run on for his 50th cap on Sunday when his team face the Welsh side Dragons at Rodney Parade in their Vodacom United Rugby Championship match.

Coach Ivan van Rooyen has made two changes to the side that smashed Edinburgh at home in their last game with new recruit Franco Marais getting a start at hooker while normal halfback Nico Steyn will start at flyhalf - a position he occupied a few times in the recent Carling Currie Cup.

Ntlabakanye, whose general gameplay has won him plenty of plaudits, achieves his milestone for the franchise and his teammates are likely to do everything in their power to give him a reason to celebrate.

The team have a good record against the Dragons, having beaten them three out of the last four outings, and are unbeaten this season, meaning they head into the clash with confidence, something that assistant coach Barend Pieterse acknowledged.

“We are really happy with where we are at the moment as a group. It’s always a nice feeling coming on tour with 10 points in the bag. We will however need to maintain that momentum as we really believe we can become a championship team,” he said.

“This is the tour we believe we can collect our points to make it easier towards the end of the season without relying on other teams to get us into a play-off position.”

Emirates Lions:

Quan Horn; Rabz Maxwane, Erich Cronje, Rynhardt Jonker, Edwill van der Merwe; Nico Steyn, Morne van den Berg; Francke Horn (captain), Jarod Cairns, JC Pretorius, Darrien-Lane Landsberg, Reinard Nothnagel, Asenathi Ntlabakanye, Franco Marais, Juan Schoeman.

Replacements: PJ Botha, Heiko Pohlmann, Conraad van Vuuren, Ruben Schoeman, Renzo du Plessis, Sanele Nohamba, Marius Louw, Henco van Wyk