Emirates Lions Head Coach Ivan van Rooyen has named Morgan Naude and flanker Hanru Sirgel in his starting XV ahead of their Sunday afternoon clash against Benetton Rugby in Round 3 of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship.

Sirgel enjoys his first start in the red colours of the Emirates Lions, while Naude gets an opportunity at loosehead prop after an impactful stint off the bench last week in a closely fought contest against Edinburgh.

Reflecting on the Edinburgh match, defence coach Jaque Fourie believes while chances were created by his troops, it’s often teams that make the most of those opportunities who end up victorious on the day.

“Last week was all about small margins. If you go and look at last week’s game against Edinburgh, we had our chances and the chances they had they capitalized. There are minor things we can fix but at the same time we take quite a bit of positives out of that as you don’t just go to Edinburgh and beat them there.”

Fourie on Benetton:

“We had a look at Benetton against Munster last weekend. They are team that has evolved their playing style in that they don’t play with the ball too much, instead they play in the right areas of the field. Conditions wise, we’ll be playing on a normal pitch which means it could be slippery and wet. It’s going to be a physical, arm wrestle type of game for 80 minutes and the team that uses their chances will come out on top.”

A new addition to the match 23 is former Blitzbok star JC Pretorius. Powerhouse Ruan Venter sits this one out while he nurses a toe injury he suffered against the Scots last Saturday.

Emirates Lions Match 23

1. Morgan Naude
2. PJ Botha
3. Ruan Dreyer
4. Ruben Schoeman
5. Darrien-Lane Landsberg
6. Hanru Sirgel
7. Emmanuel Tsituka
8. Francke Horn
9. Sanele Nohamba
10. Jordan Hendrikse
11. Edwill van der Merwe
12. Marius Louw (c)
13. Henco van Wyk
14. Richard Kriel
15. Quan Horn

Replacements

16. Jaco Visagie
17. Corne Fourie
18. Asenathi Ntlabakanye
19. Willem Alberts
20. JC Pretorius
21. Morne van den Berg
22. Rynardt Jonker
23. Andries Coetzee