Good vibes in Lions camp as they look to build more URC momentum

The saying goes, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ and that’s pretty much what Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen has done ahead of his team’s United Rugby Championship match against Edinburgh on Friday.

Following two quality wins on tour in the UK, against Ospreys and Cardiff, Van Rooyen has opted to stick with a winning combination, for the most part, for the fourth-round match this weekend.

READ MORE: ‘Lions have grown immensely in last year,’ says Van Rooyen

The only two changes to the starting team are at flank where Ruan Venter replaces Emmanuel Tshituka, who moves down to the bench, and at wing where Stean Pienaar comes into the side, in place of Edwill van der Merwe, who picked up concussion in the win against Cardiff.

Van Rooyen has thus again backed the majority of the starters in the wins in Wales, including halfbacks Sanele Nohamba and Gianni Lombard.

‘Nice buzz’ in camp

Assistant coach Ricardo Loubscher said the Lions would take plenty of momentum and good vibes into arguably their toughest match of the tour.

“It’s been a good tour so far and we’re really happy with the momentum we have built up,” said Loubscher this week.

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“There’s a nice buzz in the camp but we know Edinburgh, who are a well-balanced side will pose a big challenge to the team,” he added.

“They bring a lot of line speed from an attack point of view, while the kicking game will again be a point of difference.”

Having played in incredibly tough conditions in Cardiff in their last match, the Lions are preparing for another wet weather game in Edinburgh.

“The conditions might be tricky once again because according to the weather it might rain on Friday, so we have to plan for that as well,” said Loubscher.

“But we are happy with the way we have been going with our attack. So if the weather is good we will definitely have a go.”

Lions team

Andries Coetzee, Stean Pienaar, Henco van Wyk, Marius Louw, Quan Horn, Gianni Lombard, Sanele Nohamba, Francke Horn, Ruan Venter, Sibusiso Sangweni, Reinhard Nothnagel (capt), Pieter Jansen van Vuren, Ruan Dreyer, PJ Botha, Sti Sithole

Bench: Jaco Visagie, JP Smith, Ruan Smith, Emmanuel Tshituka, Ruhan Straeuli, Morne van den Berg, Jordan Hendrikse, Zander du Plessis