CONFIRMED: Lions name side for Super Rugby final

For the third playoff game in a row, the Lions have named an unchanged 23 for their Super Rugby showdown with the Crusaders this weekend.

It’s a sad end to the Super Rugby season for number eight Warren Whiteley, who once again failed to prove his fitness.

Coach Johan Ackermann, who will be in charge of his last game at Ellis Park before leaving to take charge of Premiership side Gloucester, said:

“We can analyse the Crusaders as much as we want to, we know they are going to be physical. It is for us to be in their faces and to adapt if our plan doesn’t work.”

Lions side to face the Crusaders:

15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Ruan Combrinck, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Ross Cronje, 8 Ruan Ackermann, 7 Kwagga Smith, 6 Jaco Kriel (captain), 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Andries Ferreira, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Jacques van Rooyen

Reserves: 16 Akker van der Merwe, 17 Corne Fourie, 18 Johannes Jonker, 19 Lourens Erasmus, 20 Cyle Brink, 21 Faf de Klerk, 22 Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 23 Sylvian Mahuza