Head coach Ivan van Rooyen’s side will be looking to bounce back against French opponents Section Paloise on Saturday in Round 2 of the EPCR Challenge Cup. Kick off at Emirates Airline Park is at 17:15.

Back from a challenging away outing against Ospreys last week Sunday, the Johannesburg side are relying on home support in what will be their final home game for 2024.

The Lions mentor has taken a rotation approach by including the bulk of the side who featured against Munster in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship two weeks ago.

Centre Marius Louw leads from the inside centre position alongside last week’s starter Erich Cronje. Speedster Rabz Maxwane forms a formidable back three with the returning Edwill van der Merwe and last week’s starting fullback Tapiwa Mafura.

Amongst the forwards, WJ Steenkamp retains his spot after an impressive shift against the Ospreys. Jarod Cairns and Francke Horn complete the back row.

Assistant coach Ricardo Loubscher says a major focus leading up to Saturday was recovery with further emphasis on cohesion and alignment.

“We feel a win is not enough. We need to make sure we put up a good performance against Pau on Saturday,” said the former Springbok.

“Key focus for us this week was on recovery. We had a few guys who flew back to South Africa after the Munster game, so they’ve recovered and trained well this week.”

“Hopefully we can find the cohesion and execute the plans we’ve put in place ahead of Saturday,” he concluded.

Emirates Lions Match 23                                                                                                                

1.           Juan Schoeman

2.           PJ Botha

3.           Asenathi Ntlabakanye

4.           Ruben Schoeman

5.           Reinhard Nothnagel

6.           Jarod Cairns

7.           WJ Steenkamp

8.           Francke Horn

9.           Morne van den Berg

10.         Sam Francis

11.         Edwill van der Merwe

12.         Marius Louw (c )

13.         Erich Cronje

14.         Rabz Maxwane

15.         Tapiwa Mafura

Replacements

16.         Jaco Visagie

17.         SJ Kotze

18.         RF Schoeman

19.         Ruan Delport

20.         JC Pretorius

21.         Nico Steyn

22.         Kade Wolhuter

23.         Manny Rass