Timmy T Maranda
After a thrilling opening weekend of action in the PRO14 Rainbow Cup SA, the competition returns for another double-header of fixtures on Saturday – the Cell C Sharks host the Emirates Lions in Durban while the Vodacom Bulls travel to Cape Town to battle against the DHL Stormers.
The Sharks will be buoyed by their last minute victory over the Stormers in Cape Town and will want to continue a great run in the competition at Jonsson Kings Park Stadium.
Sharks have made the Kings Park rugby stadium a fortress, having won seven games in all competition dating back to 2019. They are hard to beat on their own turf.
After being made to battle for the win in Cape Town – Sharks named an unchanged squad from last weekend’s match against Stormers.
Meanwhile, limping Lions will be looking to bounce back from the opening defeat to the Bulls side last week at Loftus Versfeld Stadium.
Lions Coach Ivan van Rooyen said that due to injuries they were forced into making a number of changes for this match against Sharks.
“Unfortunately we had a couple changes from the game and also this week. We were forced to make this change,” Van Rooyen said.
Van Rooyen has made four changes to his starting team – three of them due to injuries to Tiaan Swanepoel (fullback), Steve Pienaar (Wing) and Wilhelm van der Sluys (lock).
As a result, EW Viljoen and Reinhard Nothnagel are promoted from the bench to start at fullback and lock respectively, while Rabz Maxwane will fill the void at right wing. The fourth change is at tighthead prop, where Carlu Sadie will start in the place of the experienced Jannie du Plessis.
The match at Jonsson Kings park starts at 16h00, followed by the 18h15 kick-off at Cape Town Stadium.
Picture source: @LionsRugbyco
