Lions ring the changes


Lions head coach Swys de Bruin has made several changes to his starting XV to face the Highlanders in Saturday’s Super Rugby clash in Dunedin.

Robbie Coetzee comes in at hooker, where he takes over from the injured Malcolm Marx, while Johannes Jonker replaces Jacobie Adriaanse in the front-row.

There are two new locks with Andries Ferreira and Marvin Orie packing down in the second-row. This means captain Franco Mostert moves to the blindside flank where he takes over from Cyle Brink, who shifts to the openside, and Kwagga Smith continues at number eight.

The back-line will stay the same as against the Hurricanes last weekend.

The bench will be made up of three front rankers, Jacques van Rooyen, Ruan Dreyer and Adriaanse. They will be joined by Lourens Erasmus, Marnus Schoeman, Dillon Smit, Rohan Janse van Rensburg and Sylvian Mahuza.

Lions: 15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Ruan Combrink, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Aphiwe Dyantyi, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Kwagga Smith, 7 Franco Mostert (c), 6 Cyle Brink, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Andries Ferreira, 3 Johannes Jonker, 2 Robbie Coetzee, 1 Dylan Smith
Replacements: 16 Jacques Van Rooyen, 17 Ruan Dreyer, 18 Jacobie Adriaanse, 19 Lourens Erasmus, 20 Marnus Schoeman, 21 Dillon Smit, 22 Rohan Janse Van Rensburg, 23 Sylvian Mahuza

Date: Saturday, May 12
Kick-off: 19:35 local (07:35 GMT)
Venue: Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin
Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia)
Assistant referees: Brendon Pickerill (New Zealand), James Doleman (New Zealand)
TMO: Glenn Newman (New Zealand)

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