Lions get URC flavour for Currie Cup clash at Loftus

The Lions have named captain Burger Odendaal and former Bulls hooker Jaco Visagie in their starting line-up for Saturday's Currie Cup clash against their cross-Jukskei rivals in Pretoria.

The men from Johannesburg appear to be using the match as a final tune-up for their next United Rugby Championship (URC) fixture and have picked a strong line-up.

With the exception of injured brothers Vincent and Emmanuel Tshituka, they are fielding their first-choice URC squad for the match.

As a result, the Lions' URC coach, Ivan van Rooyen, is at the helm for the upcoming Currie Cup fixture.

The Bulls currently top the Currie Cup standings on 37 points, while the winless Lions (3 points) are at the bottom.

Saturday's clash at Loftus Versfeld kicks off at 17:00.

Bulls

15 James Verity-Amm, 14 David Kriel, 13 Stedman Gans, 12 Marco Jansen van Vuren, 11 Kabelo Mokoena, 10 Juan Mostert, 9 Keagan Johannes, 8 Muller Uys, 7 Reinhardt Ludwig, 6 Jaco Labuschagne, 5 Janko Swanepoel, 4 Raynard Roets, 3 Dylan Smith, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Lizo Gqoboka (captain)

Substitutes: 16 Sidney Tobias, 17 Cebo Dlamini, 18 Francois Kloppers, 19 Ruan Delport, 20 Stephan Smith, 21 Bernard van der Linde, 22 Diego Appollis, 23 Richard Kriel

Lions

15 Quan Horn, 14 Steab Pienaar, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Burger Odendaal (captain), 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Jordan Hendrikse, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 France Horn, 7 Ruan Venter, 6 Sibusiso Sangweni, 5 Reinhard Nothnagel, 4 Ruben Schoeman, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 Sti Sithole 

Substitutes: 16 PJ Botha, 17 Heiko Pohlmann, 18 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 19 Cal Smid, 20 Jarod Cairns, 21 Andre Warner, 22 Henko van Wyk, 23 Tiaan Swanepoel