The Emirates Lions return to Emirates Airline Park this Saturday for their Round 14 Vodacom United Rugby Championship encounter against the Cell C Sharks. Back home from a challenging four-week European tour, the team from Doornfontein will target Saturday’s outing against the Sharks as an opportunity to collect points towards their journey towards a top 8 finish.

The halfback combination of Morne van den Berg and Gianni Lombard will look to spearhead the Lions’ attack on a familiar surface, with speedster Rabz Maxwane on hand to finish opportunities on the wing. The winger returns to the right wing after missing out on his recent tour due to injury.

Elswhere, Emmanuel Tshituka faces his brother Vincent, a former Lions man, now in the black and white of the Sharks, in what is poised to be an exciting battle for the Congolese brothers.

Ruan Delport has been named on the bench for a possible debut, with Springbok Ruan Dreyer providing cover amongst front row.

Emirates Lions Head Coach Ivan van Rooyen.

“The aim for us is to be more dynamic on attack as well as with our kicking game. If you look at the top teams in this competition, their point of difference is their attacking-kicking game as well as their defensive kicking game. It’s been a work on for us on tour because of the conditions and circumstances, but especially back here at home where we’ve worked hard on the aspects I’ve mentioned.”

“Being back home we feel we need to play differently whether it’s on attack or defence. The system is not just going to do for you; there are intricacies in there that require attention. In terms of energy and excitement, the guys have trained well and hard over the past two weeks and are raring to go at home after being away for six weeks. There’s a real excitement for this weekend.”

Kick-off is at 15:00

Emirates Lions

1. JP Smith
2. PJ Botha
3. Asenathi Ntlabakanye
4. Willem Alberts
5. Ruben Schoeman
6. Jaco Kriel
7. Ruan Venter
8. Emmanuel Tshituka
9. Morne van den Berg
10. Gianni Lombard
11. Edwill van der Merwe
12. Marius Louw
13. Manuel Rass
14. Rabz Maxwane
15. Quan Horn

Replacements
16. Michael van Vuuren
17. Morgan Naude
18. Ruan Dreyer
19. Ruan Delport
20. Sibusiso Sangweni
21. Ruhan Straeuli
22. Sanele Nohamba
23. Rynhardt Jonker