RECAP: Lions v Bulls

READERS' FORUM: Welcome to our live coverage of the Currie Cup Round 11 clash between the Lions and Bulls and Ellis Park.

The hosts are desperate for a win to stay in the play-off race and needs to upstage the table-topping visitors

After pulling out of last year’s tournament, the Springboks are back to defend their Rugby Championship title.

The Springboks rejoin the All Blacks, Wallabies and Los Pumas - after South Africa opted out of last year’s tournament due to concerns over player welfare and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

* To read our pre-match predictions, CLICK HERE!

* Our live blog will appear below, it might take a little while to load, please be patient. We apologise for the inconvenience!

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Teams

Lions: 15 EW Viljoen, 14 Stean Pienaar, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Burger Odendaal (captain), 11 Rabz Maxwane, 10 Jordan Hendrikse, 9 Andre Warner, 8 Travis Gordon, 7 Sibusiso Sangweni, 6 Mark Snyman, 5 Ruben Schoeman, 4 PJ Steenkamp, 3 Carlu Sadie, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 Sti Sithole.

Replacements: 16 PJ Botha, 17 Nathan McBeth, 18 Jannie du Plessis, 19 Oupa Mthiyane, 20 MJ Pelser, 21 Ross Cronje, 22 Dan Kriel, 23 Manuel Rass.

Bulls: 15 David Kriel, 14 Madosh Tambwe, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Chris Smith, 9 Keagan Johannes, 8 WJ Steenkamp, 7 Muller Uys, 6 Arno Botha (captain), 5 Janko Swanepoel, 4 Walt Steenkamp, 3 Jacques van Rooyen, 2 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 1 Simphiwe Matanzima.

Replacements – from: 16 Schalk Erasmus, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Mornay Smith, 19 Ruan Nortje, 20 Elrigh Louw, 21 Zak Burger, 22 Johan Goosen, 23 Stedman Gans, 24 Joe van Zyl, 25 Marco Jansen van Vuren, 26 Cornal Hendricks, 27 Stravino Jacobs.

Referee: Marius van der Westhuizen

Assistant referees: Local appointment

TMO: Quinton Immelman