Lions expect 'desperate' Edinburgh to play an expansive brand of rugby at Ellis Park

The Lions have the perfect opportunity to strike while the iron is hot in their United Rugby Championship (URC) clash against Edinburgh on Saturday in Johannesburg.

After claiming the SA Shield following a victory over the Stormers, they have winning momentum, homeground advantage, scrumhalf Morné van den Berg bringing up 100 matches and the return of a couple of Springboks to boost them for the match at Ellis Park (2.45pm kick-off).

Van den Berg, along with returning tighthead Asenathi Ntlabakanye and loose forward Ruhan Venter will be the Bok experience the Lions lean on in this encounter.

Currently seventh on the overall URC log, the next four home games will be critical for the Joburg side as they chase an elusive first playoff spot and Champions Cup qualification.

Head coach Ivan van Rooyen largely stuck to the team that beat the Stormers a couple of weeks ago, with the addition of their Springbok forwards. That points to some continuity in selection which could be vital against a tricky Scottish club.

The visitors are chasing a spot in the knockouts as well, so there will be desperation from them on their two-week tour of South Africa. Edinburgh welcomed back their Scotland players following a successful Six Nations and that will make them an even more difficult opponent.

According to Van Rooyen both Edinburgh and Glasgow (who they face in April) will take momentum from the national team.

“If you look from the outside, Glasgow obviously have more international players,” Van Rooyen said.

“But both teams will definitely give us a tough time on the field. Both will take confidence from Scotland’s performance. We expect them to be desperate and play an exciting brand.

“They’ve shown that they like to play with the ball in hand.”

The Lions will also be wary about the Edinburgh scrum with Bok loosehead Boan Venter waiting on them. Venter is heading to Ellis Park next season to join the Lions, but Van Rooyen believes he will have something to show on Saturday.

It will be a great opportunity for Venter to show his future side that they made the right decision to bring him home.

He will be up against Springbok teammate Ntlabakanye and that duel could set the tone at scrum time.

“Boan has been very good over the last year for the Boks and Edinburgh. He will come to prove a point ahead of joining us. We know we must be better there. At times, we are good, but also, South African teams are generally good at scrum time. There will be a big focus to be ready come set-piece time this weekend.

“We want to improve our consistency in the game. Sometimes we are dynamic and flowing on the attack and defence, but sometimes we switch off and there is an increase in our error rate and that leads to frustration. We want to build momentum and hopefully we can get it right on Saturday.”

Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt warned his side about the difficulties awaiting them.

While the Scottish club received a welcome boost with four internationales returning, they are well aware about their loss at Ellis Park last season.

“The Lions away is one of the toughest assignments in the league, as we found out last year, but we are well prepared and have picked a side that can get a positive result.”

Lions

15 Quan Horn, 14 Angelo Davids, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Bronson Mills, 11 Erich Cronje, 10 Chris Smith, 9 Morné van den Berg, 8 Francke Horn (captain), 7 Ruan Venter, 6 Siba Mahashe, 5 Darrien Landsberg, 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 PJ Botha, 1 SJ Kotze.

Replacements: 16 Franco Marais, 17 Eddie Davids, 18 RF Schoeman, 19 Reinhard Nothnagel, 20 Batho Hlekani, 21 Renzo du Plessis, 22 Haashim Pead, 23 Richard Kriel.

Edinburgh: 15 Harry Paterson, 14 Malelili Satala, 13 Matt Currie, 12 Mosese Tuipulotu, 11 Jack Brown, 10 Ross Thompson, 9 Ben Vellacott, 8 Magnus Bradbury (captain), 7 Freddy Douglas,6 Ben Muncaster, 5 Glen Young, 4 Marshall Sykes, 3 D’arcy Rae, 2 Dylan Richardson, 1 Boan Venter.

Replacements: 16 Ewan Ashman, 17 James Whitcombe, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Callum Hunter-Hill, 20 Liam McConnell, 21 Charlie Shiel, 22 Cammy Scott, 23 Piers O’Conor.