Emirates Lions Head Coach Ivan van Rooyen has named a 29-man touring squad for his team’s upcoming fixtures in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship and EPCR Challenge Cup.

The Joburg team face Muster on Friday, 6 January in the VURC, followed by return legs against Stade Francais and Dragons RFC in consecutive weeks in the EPCR Challenge Cup competition. The 4-week tour wraps up with a clash against Irish outfit Connacht at the Sportsground in Galway on 28 January in the VURC

Head Coach Ivan van Rooyen:

“There’s still a tremendous amount of belief within the squad in terms of where we are currently in the process. We know we need to be more consistent on attack and defense especially. We are under no illusion that it’s going be a tough tour.”

“We like touring, says van Rooyen.  We spend a lot of time together in Johannesburg, but time together on tour is just different. Going away together for four weeks on tour is a great opportunity for us to pull together, get consistency in our preparations and roll with the punches,” he concluded.

Emirates Lions 29-man Touring Squad

Forwards

Ruan Smith

JP Smith

Asenathi Ntlabakanye

Morgan Naude

PJ Botha

Michael van Vuuren

Rhynardt Reijnsburger

Willem Alberts

Emmanuel Tshituka

Emile van Heerden

Darrian Landsberg

Ruan Venter

Jarod Cairns

Sibusiso Sangweni

Jaco Kriel

Ruhan Straeuli

JC Pretorius

Backs

Morne van den Berg

Andre Warner

Jordan Hendrikse

Gianni Lombard

Marius Louw

Manuel Rass

Henco van Wyk

Rhynhardt Jonker

Edwill van der Merwe

Stean Pienaar

Quan Horn

Andries Coetzee

Players not considered due to injury:

Sti Sithole, Ruan Dreyer, Reinhard Nothnagel, Francke Horn, Sanele Nohamba and Rabz Maxwane.

Head Coach: Ivan van Rooyen