Lions rest key players ahead of play-offs

KEY Emirates Lions players will be rested when the squad travels to Argentina to play in their last round-robin match.

The local team from Johannesburg will play the Jaguares in Buenos Aires on Saturday, July 16, at 23:40 South African time.

The team has already qualified for the play-offs of the 2016 Vodacom Super Rugby tournament and the coaching staff has decided some of the players must stay at home in preparation for the important play-off stages of the series.

An exciting team out of the Super Rugby squad will travel to Argentina, led by the experienced scrumhalf Ross Cronjé, ably assisted by Howard Mnisi.

The team left for Argentina on Wednesday, July 13, from OR Tambo International Airport.

“This is a great opportunity for our whole group to experience and express themselves at Super Rugby level and to make sure everybody is prepared at the highest level. The 15 players who stay behind will have time to work hard physically for the next round of important Super Rugby matches that lie ahead. It also gives us the chance to do some medical rehabilitation with some of them. With the long travelling hours to Argentina one loses a lot of time that could have been spent working with these players.

“That being said, we have a lot of faith in the players we sent to Argentina. They have been part of our extended squad for the whole year and must be ready to play in a play-off game should we need them and we regard this as vital preparation,” said Johan Ackermann, coach of the Emirates Lions.

Emirates Lions team is:

15 Sylvian Mahuza

14 Koch Marx

13 Stokkies Hanekom

12 Howard Mnisi

11 Anthony Volmink

10 Jaco van der Walt

9 Ross Cronjé

8 Cyle Brink

7 Robert Kruger

6 Stef de Witt

5 Lourens Erasmus

4 Martin Muller

3 Jacques van Rooyen

2 Akker van der Merwe

1 Corné Fourie

16 Ramone Samuels

17 Clinton Theron

18 Pieter Scholtz

19 Fabian Booysen

20 Ruaan Lerm

21 Dillon Smit

22 Jacques Nel

23 Shaun Reynolds

24 Bobby de Wee

25 Ashlon Davids