Lions squad to face Brumbies announced

The Lions have named their team to play the Brumbies at Ellis Park this Saturday.

Lions coach Johan Ackermann again made a number of changes to his forwards and backline‚ bringing in his best half-back combination of flyhalf Elton Jantjies and scrumhalf Faf de Klerk to start‚ while fit-again Lionel Mapoe slots in at right wing.

Courtnall Skosan‚ who scored a try last week when the Lions beat the Highlanders 28-23‚ misses out this week and his place on the left wing is taken by Ruan Combrinck.

In the forwards‚ Warwick Tecklenburg is given a bit of a rest and will start from the bench‚ while Robert Kruger fills in for him at No 7. Lock Martin Muller also comes into the second row‚ while MB Lusaseni provides cover on the bench.

“I was tempted to rotate a little bit more‚ especially on the front row‚” said Ackermann.

“But we’ll look at that next week. There’s a bit of rotation for the rest of the guys and some guys have been included because we feel they will fit the profile of this game.”

Lions team (15-1): Andries Coetzee‚ Lionel Mapoe‚ Harold Vorster‚ Alwyn Hollenbach‚ Ruan Combrinck‚ Elton Jantjies‚ Faf de Klerk‚ Warren Whiteley‚ Robert Kruger‚ Jaco Kriel‚ Franco Mostert‚ Martin Muller‚ Julian Redelinghuys‚ Robbie Coetzee‚ Schalk van der Merwe. Substitutes: Armand van der Merwe‚ Jacques van Rooyen‚ Ruan Dreyer‚ MB Lusaseni‚ Warwick Tecklenburg‚ Ross Cronje‚ Jaco van der Walt‚ Howard Mnisi.

-RDM News Wire