Zeilinga out as Lions pick new No 10 for trip to Loftus

The Lions have named a new-look team for their United Rugby Championship return match against the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

Tiaan Swanepoel has been handed the No 10 jersey with Fred Zeilinga dropped, while Matt More gets a run at inside centre in place of the injured Burger Odendaal.

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In Odendaal’s absence, Jaco Kriel will assume the captaincy.

Willem Alberts (knee) has also been ruled out for a lengthy period, resulting in a change in the second row as well. Ruben Schoeman will be joined in the locks this weekend by Ruhan Straeuli, who up to now has played in the back row.

The Lions go into the game after being soundly beating in their clash at Ellis Park last week.

“Both players and management had difficult conversations post the Bulls fixture and we felt that a better showing was required if we wanted to be competitive this week,” said coach Ivan van Rooyen on Friday.

“We felt our scrums and mauls were a highlight for us against the Bulls so it’s something we would like to capitalise on come Saturday.”

Regarding the team changes Van Rooyen said: “It’s an opportunity once again for others to step up and show us what they can do on a big stage. We spoke last week about chances and how we as a group pride ourselves in creating these kinds of opportunities for players.”

Kick-off is at 3pm.

Lions: Divan Rossouw, Stean Pienaar, Manuel Rass, Matt More, Edwill van der Merwe, Tiaan Swanepoel, Andre Warner, Francke Horn, Emmanuel Tshituka, Jaco Kriel (capt), Ruben Schoeman, Ruhan Straeuli, Carlu Sadie, PJ Botha, Sti Sithole. Bench: Morne Brandon, Morgan Naude, Ruan Dreyer, Ruan Venter, PJ Steenkamp, Morne van den Berg, EW Viljoen, Quan Horn