Will Tshituka be able to help the Lions record a first Currie Cup win?

The Lions are hoping to pick up their first Currie Cup win of the season on Saturday as they welcome the Sharks to Ellis Park for what is expected to be a cracking encounter (kickoff 5pm).

The Lions have lost their opening two matches against Western Province and the Pumas and are desperate to get themselves on the board.

However, they face an in-form and fired up Sharks team who have won their two games against the Griquas and Western Province and will be targeting their third win in a row.

The young Lions team have, however, been boosted with a few reinforcements from the URC team, including exciting rising loose forward talent Vincent Tshituka who continues to make his return from injury after playing against the Stormers last week.

“Vince hasn’t been dropped, he has been out for a month and the URC coaching group thought he was a bit short of game time and inaccurate, so it’s obviously an opportunity for him to get a bit of game time before they go on tour next week,” explained Lions coach Mziwakhe Nkosi.

“Our team is all the better for it, he is an outstanding loose forward and one of the best in the country so it’s killing two birds with one stone. He gets some game time and we get some quality in our line up.”

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Lions captain Asenathi Ntlabakanye is also looking forward to the match and believes his side are in a good space and ready for the challenge of the Sharks.

“I am really happy where the team is at the moment, like I said after the game against the Pumas we really needed to knuckle down in the areas that we pointed out,” said Ntlabakanye.

“I think it’s been a really good four weeks for us, off and on the field, we needed some time to recover and rest and we are really looking forward to the match on Saturday.”

The other Currie Cup match taking place on Saturday sees the in-form Cheetahs taking on the Pumas in Mbombela (kickoff 2:30pm).

The Cheetahs are arguably the favourites for this season’s Currie Cup and head into the match off an opening win against the Griquas and then an impressive away bonus point win against the Bulls and they will be keen to continue their good start.

“During the last two weeks, we’ve done a lot of preparation. We know we are playing against a really good team in Nelspruit and it’s been a tough place to go to the last few seasons. They suffered a big loss against the Griquas so they’ll be up for it,” said captain Ruan Pienaar.

The Pumas will be looking to bounce back from their disappointing loss against the Griquas last time out and will be hoping that home ground advantage will give them the edge.