The Emirates Lions continue their EPCR Challenge Cup journey when they take on French outfit Stade Francais this Saturday at the Stade Jean Bouin stadium in Paris. Undefeated in the competition, the team from Ellis Park will look to improving their recent run of results with a positive outcome against the Pink Army.

Sevens recruit JC Pretorius will have his first bite of international 15-man rugby for the franchise off the bench alongside former Paarl Boys pupil Rhynardt Rijnsburger. Jaco Kriel returns to the starting line-up, with Gianni Lombard taking over from Jordan Hendrikse who suffered an ankle niggle last week against Munster.

Speaking to the media earlier this week, the Lions’ attack mentor Ricardo Loubscher believes Saturday’s challenge in the French capital will be an opportunity to turn his side’s fate around after a few difficult weeks on the road.

“The last few weeks have been tough for us on the road, but the team spirit remains high and the focus for us has been on how we can turn things around leading up to Saturday. The willingness and commitment from the guys remains, so it’s for us to go out and execute,” he emphasised.

Shifting to his team’s on field preparation, Loubscher stressed the importance of going through the processes and finishing off opportunities.

“It’s a mixture of a lot of things we touched on this week at training. For example, we spoke about launching from a good base for attack as a start. Once we get going, we’ll be able to get ourselves into favourable areas of the field where it’s all about making good decisions and being more clinical in terms of finishing our opportunities.”

Loubscher, a former coach at Stade Francais in 2019 understands first-hand what gets them going especially at home.

“They are obviously on a high at the moment with some decent results in their domestic competition. Speaking from experience, they are a different team at home. They are more passionate in front of their home fans combined with providing entertainment through their style of rugby,” he concluded.

Kick-off for this EPCR Challenge Cup clash is at 15:00 SA time.

Stade Francais
TBC

Emirates Lions

1. JP Smith
2. PJ Botha
3. Asenathi Ntlabakanye
4. Willem Alberts
5. Darrien Landsberg
6. Jaco Kriel
7. Emile van Heerden
8. Emmanuel Tshituka
9. Morne van den Berg
10. Gianni Lombard
11. Edwill van der Merwe
12. Marius Louw (c)
13. Henco van Wyk
14. Quan Horn
15. Andries Coetzee

Replacements
16. Michael van Vuuren
17. Rhynardt Rijnsburger
18. Ruan Smith
19. Ruhan Straeuli
20. Sibusiso Sangweni
21. JC Pretorius
22. Andre Warner
23. Manuel Rass