Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen has made just one injury-enforced change to his starting lineup for Saturday’s match against the Stormers at Newlands.
Scrumhalf Morne van den Berg will start in what will be the Lions’ second and the Stormers’ first match in Vodacom Super Rugby Unlocked when the sides square off in Cape Town.
The 22-year-old Van den Berg, who played off the bench last weekend against the Sharks, comes into the run-on XV in place of Dillon Smit, who dislocated his shoulder last week. Smit went underwent surgery on Tuesday and is expected to be out of action for four months.
Springbok Ross Cronje comes in on the bench to provide scrumhalf cover. The rest of the Lions match-day squad is unchanged.
Lions – 15 EW Viljoen; 14 Jamba Ulengo, 13 Burger Odendaal, 12 Dan Kriel, 11 Sibahle Maxwane, 10 Elton Jantjies (c), 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Len Massyn, 7 Vincent Tshituka, 6 Jaco Kriel, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Willem Alberts, 3 Carlu Sadie, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 Sti Sithole.
Subs: 16 Jan-Henning Campher, 17 Dylan Smith, 18 Wiehahn Herbst, 19 Wilhelm van der Sluys, 20 MJ Pelser, 21 Hacjivah Dayimani, 22 Ross Cronje, 23 Gianni Lombard, 24 Wandisile Simelane, 25 Ruan Dreyer.
Photo: Steve Haag/Gallo Images