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Lions look to rebound against Sunwolves
By RugbyPass
Franco Mostert will lead the Lions at Ellis Park on Saturday when they host the Sunwolves in round five of Super Rugby.
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Mostert takes over the captaincy from Warren Whiteley who sustained a grade two PCL injury against the Blues last weekend and will be out for up to four weeks.
Mostert will again don the No.7 jumper in his 69th Super Rugby match on Saturday.
In other changes, Dylan Smith and Jacobie Adriaanse gets a start in the front row while Lourens Erasmus will partner with Marvin Orie at lock. Albertus Smith starts at blindside flanker and Len Massyn will pack down at No. 8.
In the backline Harold Vorster returns to the midfield, which sees Rohan Janse van Rensburg move out to the wing.
These changes are rotational and gives some senior players a rest ahead of the trip to Argentina next week where they will face the Jaguares.
For the Sunwolves, head coach Jamie Joseph has again made plenty of changes.
In the pack, Wimpie van der Walt comes into the second row for Grant Hattingh, while Jiwan Koo takes over at tighthead for Takuma Asahara.
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Pieter Labuschagne comes into the side in the No. 7 jersey.
Michael Leitch moves from blindside to No. 8 for this weekend’s clash.
Yutaka Nagare is back at scrumhalf and takes over the captaincy. William Tupou moves from the wing to the midfield at outside centre.
‘Tongan Godzilla’ Hosea Saumaki will have his hands full in his return, matching up with the powerful Rohan Janse van Rensburg.
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SUNWOLVES
15. Kotaro Matsushima, 14. Lomano Lemeki, 13. William Tupou, 12. Michael Little, 11. Hosea Saumaki, 10. Harumichi Tatekawa, 9. Yutaka Nagare (VC), 8. Michael Leitch (VC), 7. Pieter Labuschagne, 6. Yoshitaka Tokunaga, 5. Wimpie van der Walt, 4. Kazuki Himeno, 3. Jiwon Koo, 2. Yusuke Niwai, 1. Craig Millar.
Replacements: 16. Atsushi Sakate, 17. Shintaro Ishihara, 18. Hencus van Wyk, 19. Grant Hattingh, 20. Willem Britz, 21. Keisuke Uchida, 22. Ryoto Nakamura, 23. Ryuji Noguchi.
LIONS
15. Andries Coetzee, 14. Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 13. Lionel Mapoe, 12. Harold Vorster, 11. Aphiwe Dyantyi, 10. Elton Jantjies, 9. Ross Cronje, 8. Len Massyn, 7. Franco Mostert (C), 6. Albertus Smith, 5. Marvin Orie, 4. Lourens Erasmus, 3. Jacobus Adriaanse, 2. Malcolm Marx, 1. Dylan Smith.
Replacements: 16. Robbie Coetzee, 17. Sithembiso Sithole, 18. Johannes Jonker, 19. Robert Kruger, 20. Marnus Schoeman, 21. Marco Jansen van Vuren, 22. Howard Mnisi, 23. Shaun Reynolds.
Courtesy of @rugby365
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I'm not convinced that they'll call up Cam Roigard for the Championship, he'd arguably be getting better international experience in the two games against Japan than he would with 20 minutes against Argentina.
Go to commentsWelsh rugby is broke. If you play in the system you don't earn what you could even 2hr flight away. But those clubs want you full time. Nz players face a similar dilemma but the reality is all black staus puts a premium on your value that only a lions cap might approach. The difference in right now money is clearly to great. We have lost and are losing talent as well but the machine keeps feeding replacements. Charles Piatau as it stands today would never have earned the money had he stayed, in coaching Pat Lamb same. He'll he earned More than Eddie or Gats. But those golden days are over. Thankfully for nz. But France and Japan are the model of corporate/ billionaire owners with a mind to rights and merch dollars that have the power right now. But they follow the us club sport/ UK euro soccer club professional model. God help us all if the US gets there shit together. With or without oil money. Ultimately top players have a limited life span to earn that can end next week. Imagine if you got told you have maybe fifteen years to make 90 % of you life's salary AND one injury could mean that is reduced what ever you current contract is worth.?? What would YOU DO?
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