In chaos and unstructured play, Benetton is an unbelievably good team, and the Lions will watch out for that factor in their all-important United Rugby Championship (URC) clash at Ellis Park on Saturday afternoon.
Missing a few key backline players like Mannie Rass, Henco van Wyk and Richard Kriel, the Johannesburg side will still look to play their brand of rugby as they push for a crucial five points against their Italian visitors.
There might be some rain predicted for Ellis Park (1.45pm kick-off) but that should not deter the home team from going all out and pushing for a win and five maximum points. They need it as they continue fighting for a first-ever knockout spot in the URC with three games remaining after this weekend.
Currently, they know that only a win over Benetton would be good enough to keep them in the hunt for that top eight position.
“We want to hold on to the ball and score tries,” backline coach Ricardo Loubscher said.
“Cardiff was a real game-changer for us not winning it (on tour). We put a lot of hard work going into that game and I feel we lost some momentum. But, I don’t think (that loss) it is still stuck in the minds of the players. We are in a good space.”
Back home to do it #ForOurCity.
— Lions (@LionsRugbyCo) April 18, 2025
🎟️: https://t.co/eptuibz14B#LIOvBEN#ForOurCity@vodacom #URC | #HitsDifferent#LionsPride🦁 pic.twitter.com/t2OZm3EGmw
The Lions made a couple of changes to their side, bringing in Kade Wolhuter as flyhalf, while Tapiwe Mafura replaces Kriel. Marius Louw and Rynhardt Jonker will be the centre pairing tasked with providing the outside backs with good ball possession, and halting Benetton on the attack.
Up front, head coach Ivan van Rooyen brought back loose forward JC Pretorius, hooker PJ Botha and loosehead Juan Schoeman for the duel.
“We are lucky to have two different players in Kade and Gianni at flyhalf. With Kade coming into the mix it’s about his game management, kicking at poles and his speed. We also want to look at building an innings. Getting into the right areas. If it is on and they present us with opportunities to have a go, we will have a go.
Who will be the next team to secure a Play-Off spot? 🤔@Vodacom #URC pic.twitter.com/CevwoQo6Pr
“We’ve had some good discussion over our last couple of games and we saw that we are creating a lot of opportunities. We want to be dynamic, and score tries. Hopefully we can do that on Saturday.
“Your foundation must be good in terms of our basic skills. Sometimes we create the right pictures, but you must nail your skills. Overseas it’s a bit different with the conditions, the weather, it’s a challenge. At home, those passes and catches will stick.
Start crunching the numbers for the #RaceToTheEight 🏎️
Here's how each team will round out the regular season!@Vodacom #URC pic.twitter.com/AUhJ89xsed
“The big thing is, we want to be brilliant with the small things and what we can do better. Once we get momentum, we want to stay on top of teams.”
Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Tapiwa Mafura, 13 Ryhnhardt Jonker, 12 Marius Louw, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Kade Wolhuter, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Francke Horn (captain), 7 Ruan Venter, 6 JC Pretorius, 5 Darrien Landsberg, 4 Ruben Schoeman 3, Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 PJ Botha, 1 Juan Schoeman. Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie 17 SJ Kotze 18 RF Schoeman 19 Ruan Delport 20 Sibabalo Qoma 21 Nico Steyn 22 Renzo du Plessis 23 Kelly Mpeku.