URC derby: Stormers and Lions name their teams for Cape Town tussle

Moerat reaches 50 as Fourie returns to lead

Lock Salmaan Moerat will earn his 50th cap for the Stormers in their United Rugby Championship (URC) encounter against the Lions at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday (kick-off 3:45pm).

Deon Fourie makes his return from a long term injury and will captain the team in what should be a cracking South African derby.

Springboks Manie Libbok, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Ben-Jason Dixon have all recovered from recent concussions to take their place in a starting line-up which will also feature tighthead prop Frans Malherbe returning from an injury picked up in October.

Director of Rugby John Dobson said that having five Springboks return from injury is a timely boost ahead of such a big game.

“We welcome back some real quality into our team this week and there has been a sense of focused determination within the group,” said Dobson.

“These festive derbies are big occasions and we will need to step up against a very competitive Emirates Lions team.

“This will be just our second match at DHL Stadium this season and we know that it will require a big performance to get the result that we need.”

Stormers XV

Warrick Gelant, Suleiman Hartzenberg, Ruhan Nel, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Leolin Zas, Manie Libbok, Herschel Jantjies, Marcel Theunissen, Ben-Jason Dixon, Deon Fourie (c), JD Schickerling, Salmaan Moerat, Frans Malherbe, Joseph Dweba, Ali Vermaak.

Bench: JJ Kotze, Brok Harris, Neethling Fouché, Adré Smith, Willie Engelbrecht, Paul de Villiers, Paul de Wet, Jean-Luc du Plessis.

Marius Louw hits 50 as Lions face Stormers

Lions captain Marius Louw will run out for his 50th international match for the franchise when they take on the Stormers in their URC game on Saturday. 

The team however suffered a triple blow with the news that lock Reinhard Nothnagel, centre Henco van Wyk and fullback Quan Horn would miss the match due to injury.

Nothnagel unfortunately picked up an injury in training during the week with Ruan Delport coming in to replace him in the only change to the starting XV that beat French side Section Paloise (Pau) in the Challenge Cup over the past weekend.

But the big surprise was seeing Van Wyk and Horn not on the team sheet after assistant coach Jaque Fourie indicated earlier in the week that they had been cleared and fit to play against the Stormers.

Sam Francis makes his third straight start at flyhalf, despite going off early after failing his HIA against Pau, with Kade Wolhuter dropping out of the match 23.

On the bench the Lions have gone for a six-two split of forwards to backs, with prop Morgan Naude returning after recovering from an arm niggle suffered against Ospreys in the Challenge Cup, while Sanele Nohamba will provide cover for nine and 10.

The Lions will be hoping to snap a five game losing streak in the URC against the Stormers and Fourie admitted that they wouldn’t be changing the way they play.

“We are not going to stray from the way we want to play. We will run with the ball and play in the right areas of the field, nothing is going to change for us,” said Fourie.

“Last year when we played against the Stormers there were glimpses of what we want to show in Cape Town on Saturday.”

Lions XV

Tapiwa Mafura, Rabz Maxwane, Erich Cronje, Marius Louw, Edwill van der Merwe, Sam Francis, Morne van den Berg, Francke Horn, WJ Steenkamp, Jarod Cairns, Reinhard Nothnagel, Ruben Schoeman, Asenathi Ntlabakanye, PJ Botha, Juan Schoeman

Bench: Franco Marais, Morgan Naude, Conraad van Vuuren, Darrien Landsberg, Izan Esterhuizen, JC Pretorius, Sanele Nohamba, Manny Rass