URC: Lions change it up for Italian job

Van Rooyen has named Morgan Naude and flanker Hanru Sirgel the team. Sirgel enjoys his first start in the red colours of the Lions, while Naude gets an opportunity at loosehead prop after an impactful stint off the bench last week in a closely fought contest against Edinburgh.

Reflecting on the Edinburgh match, defence coach Jaque Fourie believes while chances were created by his troops, it's often teams that make the most of those opportunities who end up victorious on the day.

"Last week was all about small margins," said the former Springbok.

"If you go and look at last week's game against Edinburgh, we had our chances and the chances they had they capitalized. There are minor things we can fix but at the same time we take quite a bit of positives out of that as you don't just go to Edinburgh and beat them there.

"We had a look at Benetton against Munster last weekend. They are team that has evolved their playing style in that they don't play with the ball too much, instead they play in the right areas of the field. Conditions wise, we'll be playing on a normal pitch which means it could be slippery and wet. It's going to be a physical, arm wrestle type of game for 80 minutes and the team that uses their chances will come out on top."

A new addition to the match 23 is former Blitzbok star JC Pretorius. Powerhouse Ruan Venter sits this one out while he nurses a toe injury he suffered against the Scots last Saturday.

Lions - 1 Morgan Naude, 2 PJ Botha, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 4 Ruben Schoeman, 5 Darrien-Lane Landsberg, 6 Hanru Sirgel, 7 Emmanuel Tsituka, 8 Francke Horn, 9 Sanele Nohamba, 10 Jordan Hendrikse, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 12 Marius Louw (c), 13 Henco van Wyk, 14 Richard Kriel, 15 Quan Horn

Replacements - 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Corne Fourie, 18 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 19 Willem Alberts, 20 JC Pretorius, 21 Morne van den Berg, 22 Rynardt Jonker, 23 Andries Coetzee

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