Springbok flanker Ruan Venter is a notable omission from the Lions lineup for the Currie Cup clash against Griquas in Kimberley on Sunday.
The Lions face Griquas at Griqua Park in round 5 of this year’s edition of rugby’s oldest competition. The teams last met in the third week of the tournament in Johannesburg, with the Pride beating the visitors 25-13.
Head coach Mziwakhe Nkosi has made five changes to the Lions starting XV from last week’s defeat to the Sharks.
Lock Etienne Oosthuizen starts in the second row alongside Raynard Roets while Renzo du Plessis forms a formidable loose trio with No 8 Ruhan Straeuli and Jarod Cairns, who moves to blindside flanker for Venter.
Venter, who made his Test debut as a replacement against Portugal in Bloemfontein two weeks ago, returned to strengthen the Lions pack against the Sharks but isn’t in the matchday 23 for the trip to the Northern Cape.
MORE: ‘Phenomenal’ Mars set to rocket for WP
Fresh from international duty for Zimbabwe, wing Tapiwa Mafura slots in at left wing with Boldwin Hansen on the right in place of Rabz Maxwane (hamstring). There is also a positional switch for Kelly Mpeku at outside centre for the injured Manuel Rass.
The bench sees the return of Darrien Landsberg after a lengthy lay-off due to a calf strain.
“We’re excited for the trip to Kimberly. We are looking forward to making amends for our performance and result from last week and hopefully get back to winning ways,” Nkosi said.
“It’s important that we put in a quality performance to obtain a good result. We were thorough in our review and were able to point out aspects of our game that let us down.
“We look forward to going up against an ably prepared Griquas team who kept us on our toes here at home two weeks ago, so there’s no doubt it will be a good game for everyone. We are intent on making sure that collectively we keep fighting for this campaign.”
Photo: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images
The post Bok bruiser misses out for Lions appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Src: sarugbymag.co.za
