The Lions qualified for the first Challenge Cup playoff round by finishing in fourth place in their EPCR pool after winning two of their four matches.
There is no doubt that the team from Johannesburg will be viewed as the underdogs at the Hive Stadium against Edinburgh, who have won their last three EPCR Challenge Cup matches and who finished their pool as the top-placed team.
However, with the Lions’ backs against the wall after three defeats in a row in the United Rugby Championship, and the team still hurting from their heavy 42-0 defeat against the Glasgow Warriors last week, they week they will have all the motivation they need to create an upset and advance to the quarter-finals.
Match Information – EPCR Challenge Cup Round of 16:
Edinburgh v Lions
Date: Friday, 4 April
Venue: Hive Stadium, London
SA Time: 21h00
Referee: Ludovic Cayre
TV: SuperSport
Challenge Cup | Live scoring: Lions v Edinburgh
The Lions, who have blown hot and cold this season, will be determined to get their season back on track and build winning momentum – not only to progress further in the European showpiece, but also with their other objective in mind of staking a claim for a URC playoff spot when the competition resumes in two weeks.
With both teams boasting 18 tries apiece in their EPCR Challenge Cup campaign so far and the Johannesburgers having the psychological boost of having thumped Edinburgh 55-21 the last time they crossed paths in the URC, they will enter the match confident about turning around their season.
Teams
Edinburgh: 15 Wes Goosen, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Matt Currie, 12 James Lang, 11 Ross McCann, 10 Ross Thompson, 9 Ben Vellacott (captain), 8 Magnus Bradbury, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Jamie Ritchie, 5 Grant Gilchrist (captain), 4 Sam Skinner, 3 Paul Hill, 2 Dave Cherry, 1 Pierre Schoeman.
Replacements: 16 Ewan Ashman, 17 Boan Venter, 18 Javan Sebastian, 19 Glen Young, 20 Freddy Douglas, 21 Ali Price, 22 Cammy Scott, 23 Jack Brown.
Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Richard Kriel, 13 Manuel Rass, 12 Rynhardt Jonker, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Gianni Lombard, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Francke Horn (captain), 7 Ruan Venter, 6 Jarod Cairns, 5 Darrien Landsberg, 4 Ruben Schoeman, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 Franco Marais, 1 SJ Kotze.
Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Juan Schoeman, 18 RF Schoeman, 19 Izan Esterhuizen, 20 Siba Qoma, 21 Nico Steyn, 22 JC Pretorius, 23 Marius Louw.
WHAT IS YOUR SCORE PREDICTION?
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Src: TheSouthAfrican.com - https://rugga.co.za/european-challenge-cup/challenge-cup-live-scoring-lions-v-edinburgh/
