Morné van den Berg and Quan Horn are back on board for the Lions to face the Ospreys at Ellis Park on Saturday in round two of the URC.
The Springbok duo have been drafted into the match 23 by coach Ivan van Rooyen after featuring off the bench in this past Sunday’s defeat by the Wallabies in Perth.
However, Lions outside centre Henco van Wyk is sidelined due to a head knock in last week’s narrow win over Leinster. Ethan Adams, who made his URC debut off the wood against the defending champions, starts in his place.
CASH: Harsh words sparked response
In other changes, openside flanker JC Pretorius trades places with Siba Mahashe on the bench, while Siba Qoma replaces Batho Hlekani at No 7.
The Lions will enter this week’s match as favourites after pipping Leinster 27-26 in round one, while the Ospreys lost 41-24 against the Sharks in Durban.
History also favours Van Rooyen’s men, who suffered only one defeat at home last season, and also hold the bragging rights of having lost just once against the Welshmen in their previous five URC outings, which was in 2024 in Swansea.
LIONS – 15 Boeta Chamberlain, 14 Kelly Mpeku, 13 Ethan Adams, 12 Richard Kriel, 11 Erich Cronjé, 10 Chris Smith, 9 Nico Steyn, 8 Francke Horne (c), 7 Siba Qoma, 6 JC Pretorius, 5 Ruan Delport, 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3 Sebastian Lombard, 2 PJ Botha, 1 Boan Venter.
Bench: 16 Morné Brandon, 17 SJ Kotze, 18 RF Schoeman, 19 Hyron Andrews, 20 Siba Mahashe, 21 Dylan Sjoblom, 22 Morné van den Berg, 23 Quan Horn.
OSPREYS – 15 Iestyn Hopkins, 14 Tom Rogers, 13 Evardi Boshoff, 12 Keiran Williams, 11 Keelan Giles (co-c), 10 Dan Edwards, 9 Kieran Hardy, 8 Morgan Morse, 7 Harri Deaves, 6 Liam Wright (co-c), 5 Ryan Smith, 4 Huw Sutton, 3 Rhys Henry, 2 Efan Daniel, 1 Gareth Thomas.
Bench: 16 Lewis Lloyd, 17 Cam Jones, 18 Ben Warren, 19 Rhys Davies, 20 Ross Moriarty, 21 Reuben Morgan-Williams, 22 Lawson Creighton, 23 Luke Morgan.
Photo: Gallo Images
The post Bok boost for Lions appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.