Lions centre Wandisile Simelane has been included in the Springbok squad for the first time. Picture: Anton Geyser/Gallo Images
It is bound to be a desperate battle in order to survive in the Rainbow Cup SA competition when the Lions and the Stormers clash at Ellis Park on Saturday.
Both teams are hurting after suffering losses in their opening two matches and especially the Lions will be hoping to make it count in their first game at home.
The Stormers, who have made four changes to their team, will be without Springbok flank Pieter-Steph du Toit, who is being rested, with eighthman Willie Engelbrecht named on the blindside flank.
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The Lions looked disorganised in their defeats to the Bulls and the Sharks and for one will be keen to not chase the game after poor starts in both their previous games.
Against the Bulls they were down 7-0 after just two minutes and against the Sharks they trailed 24-5 after the opening half an hour.
The Lions will hope new rookie flyhalf Jordan Hendrikse injects new life into the backline, which has looked short of its normal cutting edge on attack in recent weeks.
In contrast, the Stormers looked set to win both their home games against the Sharks and Bulls before poor discipline came back to bite them.
Key injuries to their three top locks in Salmaan Moerat, JD Schickerling and Marvin Orie had a chain reaction on disrupting their maul – one of their biggest attacking weapons.
Their all-out Bok front row of captain Steven Kitshoff, hooker Bongi Mbonambi and tighthead Frans Malherbe remains their biggest threat and the Lions’ work will be cut out to contain them.
Against the Bulls, the Stormers won seven scrum penalties and will be hoping use that to greater effect against the Lions.
What both teams will be aspiring for is to create the proper balance between scoring tries and not conceding.
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Against the Bulls, the Lions couldn’t score any tries and conceded three while against the Sharks the try tally was four each, but the Lions’ tries were all scored while playing catch-up rugby.
The Stormers scored three tries against the Sharks, but conceded five, while they could only score once against the Bulls and conceded twice.
There will also be several players on both sides looking to impress with the British and Irish Lions tour just around the corner.
In the Lions side centre Wandisile Simelane and flank Vincent Tshituka have realistic dreams of a call-up, while for the Stormers there is the Bok front row, as well as scrumhalf Herschel Jantjies and fullback Damian Willemse, who will be out to impress.
Lions: EW Viljoen; Rabz Maxwane, Wandisile Simelane, Burger Odendaal (capt), Courtnall Skosan; Jordan Hendrikse, André Warner; Francke Horn, Vincent Tshituka, MJ Pelser, Reinhard Nothnagel, Ruben Schoeman, Carlu Sadie, Jaco Visagie, Sti Sithole. Bench: PJ Botha, Ruan Dreyer, Asenathi Ntlabakanye, Willem Alberts, Emmanuel Tshituka, Morné van den Berg, Fred Zeilinga, Dan Kriel
Stormers: Damian Willemse, Sergeal Petersen, Dan du Plessis, Rikus Pretorius, Edwill van der Merwe, Abner van Reenen, Herschel Jantjies, Evan Roos, Willie Engelbrecht, Marcel Theunissen, David Meihuizen, Ernst van Rhyn, Frans Malherbe, Bongi Mbonambi, Steven Kitshoff (capt). Bench: Scarra Ntubeni, Ali Vermaak, Neethling Fouche, Ben-Jason Dixon, Johan du Toit, Juarno Augustus, Paul de Wet, Tim Swiel.
Kickoff: 1.30pm.
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