Lions to debut Junior Bok star as they callout Leinster's tricky 'superpower'

The Lions will hand highly-rated youngster Ethan Adams a potential senior debut this weekend as Ivan van Rooyen’s side open their URC campaign against defending champions Leinster at Ellis Park.

The Johannesburg outfit welcome Leo Cullen’s province to the Highveld on Saturday that serves as an immediate opportunity to erase painful memories of their URC quarter-final defeat in Dublin last May.

While much of the focus will fall on the return of newly-signed Springbok prop Boan Venter from Edinburgh, Van Rooyen has also included exciting young scrum-half Zian Cilliers among his replacements, while Junior Springbok star Adams is poised to make his first senior appearance in the very likely event he is called off the pine in Jo’burg.

The Lions have strengthened significantly during the off-season. New recruits Venter, Boeta Chamberlain and Hyron Andrews all selected in the matchday 23, with the SA Shield holders looking to make an early statement against the Irish URC giants.

Yet despite the personnel boost, Van Rooyen believes the biggest challenge facing his team remains Leinster’s uncanny ability to drag opponents away from their strengths.

“Leinster are quite good at getting the opposition to play out of their system,” said the Lions head coach. “Their superpower is to get you out of your structure, so it will be important for us to get back into momentum and re-apply the pressure.”

“Their defensive system is really good, so if you are 50/50 on attack they get the upper hand, so there’s a big challenge for us ahead,” he added.

The fixture inevitably revives memories of the Lions’ heavy quarter-final defeat at the Aviva Stadium last term.

“Well, you would have had to play them somewhere,” he quipped. “Game one at home will be a challenge for us. I don’t think it’s too soon. Obviously there’s still a bit of scar tissue from the quarter-final, but the best way to get back onto the horse is to jump back onto it.

“It’s going to be a tremendous challenge for us, but one we are looking forward to.”

Kick-off at 10bet Ellis Park is 13:30 local time on Saturday.

10bet Lions 23: Boeta Chamberlain, Kelly Mpeku, Henco van Wyk, Richard Kriel, Erich Cronje, Chris Smith, Nico Steyn, Boan Venter, PJ Botha, Sebastian de Klerk, Etienne Oosthuizen, Ruan Delport, Siba Mahashe, Batho Hlekani, Francke Horne (CAPT)

Replacements: Morne Brandon, SJ Kotze, RF Schoeman, Hyron Andrews, Siba Qoma, JC Pretorius, Zian Cilliers, Ethan Adams.