The visiting Hurricanes from Wellington will take on the home side, who will be the first local team to be in action in the Super series.
The other four SA teams will only start their Super campaign the next day in two local derbies.
The Lion’s other Super rugby games for February will be: Saturday February 21 vs. Sharks away and on Saturday February 28 at 19:10 against Stormers back in Johannesburg.
In their only warm-up games prior to the start of Super rugby, the Lions played with two teams, two halves each training games against the Pukke and Leopards respectively in Potchefstroom.
The Lions Super side beat the Leopards 26-0 in the one half and the Pukke 7-0 in the other half. The other Lions XV team won 31-0 against the Leopards and 7-0 against the Pukke, both in 40-minute encounters in rainy and muddy conditions.
Alberton player Derrick Minnie was in brilliant form and scored a try for the Lions. The two Lions fly-halves Marnitz Boshoff, top point scorer of the day, and Jaco van der Walt were outstanding in the no.10 jersey. Alberton Springbok touring team member Jaco Kriel was also part of the Lions training games.
The big question now to ponder about this only one warm-up game is if it will be to their advantage or will it be a stumble block?
Lions supporters wonder what will be the effect of so few training matches on the team. Will they have enough match fitness? On the other side of the coin ponders the fact that nine consecutive tough encounters are waiting and they have saved themselves from serious injuries prior to the start in contradiction with previous Super seasons.
This Friday night’s Super opener may provide an early answer to some of these questions.
