The men from Joburg were comfortable winners at Ellis Park last Saturday but know the Sharks will be a different challenge on home soil.
Lions boss Ivan van Rooyen has largely stuck with the same players who beat the Sharks convincingly at Ellis Park last weekend for this Saturday’s return match in Durban, with the only two changes to the starting team forced through injury.
Loose forwards JC Pretorius and Ruan Venter both picked up knocks in the last week, leaving Van Rooyen no choice but to change his back row. Siba Qoma and Jarod Cairns join captain Francke Horn in the loose forwards this week, with no other changes made to the starting XV.
There are, however, a few changes on the bench, with Franco Marais, Morgan Naude, Conraad van Vuuren, Izan Esterhuizen and WJ Steenkamp all in the mix this week.
The Lions are looking to go back-to-back against the Sharks. A win would catapult the Lions into the United Rugby Championship top six, with all the teams having played 12 matches.
Van Rooyen said his team had prepared well this week, and had already forgotten their big 38-14 win last weekend.
‘New week, new challenge’
“It’s been good week for us. There was quite a bit of rain on Monday, so we had to train indoors, but overall, we had good training sessions on the rest of the days this week with quite bit of focus on fixes on our side ahead of a tough encounter against the Sharks.
“New week, new challenge. We are under no illusion that they are going to be a lot better.
“Any team SA team that’s hurting after a loss in a local derby will be more physical and up for the challenge. We know that it’s going to be a totally different first 20-40 minutes coming our way on Saturday so it’s important for us to be better and focus on what we want to do.”
Lions: Tapiwa Mafura, Richard Kriel, Manuel Rass, Marius Louw, Edwill van der Merwe, Gianni Lombard, Morne van den Berg, Francke Horn (capt), Siba Qoma, Jarod Cairns, Darrien Lansberg, Ruben Schoeman, Asenathi Ntlabakanye, PJ Botha, Juan Schoeman. Bench: Franco Marais, Morgan Naude, Conraad van Vuuren, Ruan Delport, Izan Esterhuizen, Nico Steyn, WJ Steenkamp, Rynhardt Jonker
Players not available because of injury:
Etienne Oosthuizen, Henco van Wyk, Ruan Venter, JC Pretorius, Quan Horn, Reinhard Nothnagel, Rabz Maxwane, Erich Cronje, Raynard Roets
