Lions seeking more shock and awe

The Lions' nerve centre will move from the engine room of the second row to midfield when they do battle with the Stormers in their New Year's Eve United Rugby Championship (URC) clash in Cape Town.

The Lions will be without skipper and lock Reinhard Nothnagel, who is out with an ankle injury, but star centre Henco van Wyk is back while the captaincy armband will go to midfield partner Marius Louw.

The former Sharks centre has quickly become a central figure in the Lions' set-up, largely through influential performances for his adopted team this year.

Louw's direct approach and exemplary work rate quickly filled the void left by former captain Burger Odendaal.

Apart from Nothnagel's absence, the pack will see a change on the side of the scrum where Jarod Cairns is now part of the run-on team.

The former Paul Roos Gymnasium pupil has progressed through the Lions’ junior ranks and will combine with another tyro Ruan Venter who shifts to number 7, while Emmanuel Tshituka will pack down at the back of the scrum.

On the bench Morne van den Berg, Manuel Rass and Morgan Naude return to the side as impact players.

The Lions will travel to Cape Town with the aim of repeating their shock and awe heroics of last year when they downed the Stormers 37-19 in front of their supporters.

There should be another enthusiastic crowd after last weekend's win over the Bulls.

Organisers of the competition were thrilled with last weekend’s record 117,000 spectators across all URC matches and are confident this weekend’s fixtures will attract similar numbers, especially with derby matches again the order of the day.

A large crowd baying for their blood may be the least of the Lions' concerns.

Their win in Cape Town a year ago was the last home defeat the eventual champions suffered before they regrouped in the new year and launched a sustained surge for the title.

Lions defence guru Jaque Fourie needs no reminding it may require an even bigger effort to down the Stormers this time round.

Their hosts will be keen to atone for what they consider a horrible slip-up and complete a full calendar year without defeat at home.

“They are a different side now, not to mention title holders,” reminded Fourie.

“They’ve picked up good momentum during the season and it’s now for us to put last Friday’s result behind us by channelling a positive approach towards a win on Saturday,” said the former Bok centre.

The Stormers will put their best foot forward in selection as they hope to accumulate as many log points as they can before being hamstrung by national team call-ups in the new year.

Fourie knows his team will have to defend much better than they did in Durban last week when the Sharks at times battered them.

“We are going to have to stay connected in our defence lines as well as looking at closing their space and time. They are a dangerous team on counterattack and we saw last week how quickly they scored, so it’s key for us to maintain our shape,” said Fourie.

They will also be tested up front but may draw confidence from the performance of their Gauteng neighbours, the Bulls, in the scrums last weekend.

The Lions' reality, however, is if they are going to down the Stormers at home they may have to deliver their best performance in the nick of time.

Lions to play the Stormers — Quan Horn; Rabz Maxwane; Henco van Wyk; Marius Louw (captain); Edwill van der Merwe; Jordan Hendrikse; Sanele Nohamba; Emmanuel Tshituka; Ruan Venter; Jarod Cairns; Pieter Jansen van Vuren; Willem Alberts; Asenathi Ntlabakanye; PJ Botha; JP Smith. Substitutes: Jaco Visagie; Morgan Naude; Ruan Smith; Ruben Schoeman; Sibusiso Sangweni; Morne van den Berg; Gianni Lombard; Manuel Rass.

Kickoff: 7pm