The Emirates Lions kick-off their three-match tour against Welsh outfit Dragons in Round 4 of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship on Sunday afternoon.

Head coach Ivan van Rooyen has made two changes to his match 23 from the team who played against Edinburgh last week which sees Franco Marais start at hooker, while Nico Steyn gets an opportunity at flyhalf- a position he dabbled in during the recent Currie Cup.

Popular tighthead prop Asenathi Ntlabakanye will make his 50^th international appearance for the franchise

Speaking ahead of the Round 4 meeting at the Rodney Parade, Emirates Lions assistant coach Barend Pieterse says they are pleased with the momentum his team currently has going into this tour.

“We are really happy with where we are at the moment as a group. It’s always a nice feeling coming on tour with 10 points in the bag. We will however need to maintain that momentum as we really believe we can become a championship team.”

Pieterse further went onto say that picking up points on the road is key towards achieving success towards the end of season.

“This is the tour we believe we can collect our points to make it easier towards the end of the season without relying on other teams to get us into a play-off position,” he concluded.

Emirates Lions Match 23

1.           Juan Schoeman

2.           Franco Marais

3.           Asenathi Ntlabakanye

4.           Reinard Nothnagel

5.           Darrien Landsberg

6.           JC Pretorius

7.           Jarod Cairns

8.           Francke Horn (c)

9.           Morne van den Berg

10.         Nico Steyn

11.         Edwill van der Merwe

12.         Rynhardt Jonker

13.         Erich Cronje

14.         Rabz Maxwane

15.         Quan Horn

Replacements

16.         PJ Botha

17.         Heiko Pohlmann

18.         Conraad van Vuuren

19.         Ruben Schoeman

20.         Renzo du Plessis

21.         Sanele Nohamba

22.         Marius Louw

23.         Henco van Wyk