PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA – JANUARY 23: Francke Horn of the Lions during the Carling Currie Cup semi final match between Vodacom Bulls and Xerox Lions at Loftus Versfeld on January 23, 2021 in Pretoria, South Africa. (Photo by Lee Warren/Gallo Images)
Currie Cup: Francke Horn to skipper Lions in Mbombela
Lions head coach, Ivan van Rooyen, has picked Francke Horn, who has returned from injury, as the skipper of the young team.
PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA – JANUARY 23: Francke Horn of the Lions during the Carling Currie Cup semi final match between Vodacom Bulls and Xerox Lions at Loftus Versfeld on January 23, 2021 in Pretoria, South Africa. (Photo by Lee Warren/Gallo Images)
The Lions will travel to Mbombela this weekend where they will face old foes, the Pumas in the first round of the Currie Cup.
Francke Horn to skipper side
Lions head coach, Ivan van Rooyen, has picked Francke Horn, who has returned from injury, as the skipper of the young team.
Exciting youngsters like Morne Brandon, Banele Mthenjane, Ruhan Straeuli, Emmanuel Tshituka and Aidynn Cupido are all in line to make their senior debuts from the bench.
The Lions will be without Wandisile Simelane who is the only member of their squad who has been picked in the 46-man Springbok international programme group ahead of the series against the British and Irish Lions.
Young Lions flyhalf Jayden Hendrikse is also away doing duty with the Junior Springboks in the Under-20 International Series at the Markotter Stadium in Stellenbosch.
The Lions face a short turnaround with midweek fixtures a feature of this season’s Currie Cup. This should see all the teams use their squads to their fullest.
“We look forward to an exciting Currie Cup season, where we will play matches with very short turn-around times. Our next match will already be on Wednesday, 23 June at Emirates Airline Park when we will host DHL Western Province,” Rudolf Straeuli, CEO of Lions Rugby Company commented.
The Currie Cup match between the Pumas and the Lions kicks off at 19:00 on Saturday 19 June. Van Rooyen’s team will set out on their mission to see the Lions lift the Currie Cup trophy for the first time since 2015.
Lions team vs Pumas – Currie Cup round 1
Lions: EW Viljoen; Jamba Ulengo, Manuel Rass, Dan Kriel, Rabz Maxwane; Fred Zeilinga, Dillon Smit; Francke Horn (capt) , Vincent Tshituka, Sibusiso Sangweni, Reinhard Nothnagel, Willem Alberts, Carlu Sadie, PJ Botha, Nathan McBeth. Replacements: Morne Brandon, Banele Mthenjane, Ruan Dreyer, Ruhan Straeuli, Emmanuel Tshituka, Ross Cronjé, Aidynn Cupido, Duncan Matthews
