Lions head coach Ivan ‘Cash’ van Rooyen has included Springboks Asenathi Ntlabakanye and Morne van den Berg in his run on XV for Round 1 of the EPCR Challenge Cup against Benetton on Saturday.

The Johannesburg side are flying high after their win against the Vodacom Bulls in Pretoria last week, a welcome confidence booster as they prepare to take on the Italians at Ellis Park.

Returning from international duty this week, and speaking to the media earlier this week, the Bok prop is eager to transfer the knowledge gained from his time with four-time world champions in recent weeks.

“Every time I come back from the Boks, I learn things I can bring here. We have to maintain that standard heading into this weekend,” he said

Reflecting on his side’s last week performance, Ntlabakanye lauded his team mates on their preparations during the international break and stressed the importance of a repeat effort.

“It was good to see the hard work pay off. To win at Loftus for the first time since 2023 was massive,” he said. “But we can’t be a one-performance team. We have to prove we can go back-to-back.”

Saturday’s line-up sees the return of Erich Cronje at outside centre alongside Bronson Mills. The only other change is on the bench with Richard Kriel as one of the impact players.

Kick-off in Ellis Park is at 15:00

Lions 23 vs Benetton Rugby

1.           SJ Kotze

2.           Franco Marais

3.           Asenathi Ntlabakanye

4.           Etienne Oosthuizen

5.           Reinhard Nothnagel

6.           Jarod Cairns

7.           Ruan Venter

8.           Francke Horn (c)

9.           Morne van den Berg

10.         Chris Smith

11.         Eduan Keyter

12.         Bronson Mills

13.         Erich Cronje

14.         Kelly Mpeku

15.         Quan Horn

Replacements

16.         Morne Brandon

17.         Edward Davids

18.         RF Schoeman

19.         Darrien Landsberg

20.         Renzo du Plessis

21.         Nico Steyn

22.         Richard Kriel

23.         Gianni Lombard

Lions upcoming EPCR Challenge Cup fixtures

• Lions vs Benetton Rugby (H)- 6 December 2025
• Newcastle Red Bulls vs Lions (A)- 13 December 2025
• Lions vs Lyon (H)- 10 January 2026
• Lions vs USA Perpignan (A)- 17 January 2025