RECAP: Lions v Pumas

READERS' FORUM: Welcome to our live coverage of the Currie Cup Round Eight encounter between the Lions and Pumas at Ellis Park.

The Pumas had the best possible start to the competition when they smashed the Lions 39-10 in Nelspruit, bagging five log points in the process and scoring five tries against the Pride from Jozi.

The Lions never really recovered from that defeat and are in the last place on the log, but Ivan van Rooyen’s men will realise the importance of turning the ship around – and that it starts at Ellis Park on Friday.

* 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 Wandisile Simelane, 14 Rabz Maxwane, 13 Manuel Rass, 12 Dan Kriel, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Jordan Hendrikse, 9 Andre Warner, 8 Francke Horn (captain), 7 Vincent Tshituka, 6 Sibusiso Sangweni, 5 FP Pelser, 4 Ruben Schoeman, 3 Carlu Sadie, 2 PJ Botha, 1 Ruan Dreyer.

Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Sti Sithole, 18 Jannie du Plessis, 19 Reinhard Nothnagel, 20 Ruhan Straeuli, 21 Morne van den Berg, 22 Fred Zeilinga, 23 Stean Pienaar.

Pumas: 15 Devon Williams, 14 Sebastián de Klerk, 13 Erich Cronje, 12 Matt More, 11 Etienne Taljaard, 10 Eddie Fouche, 9 Ginter Smuts, 8 Willie Engelbrecht, 7 Khwezi Mafu, 6 Daniel Maartens, 5 Pieter van Vuuren (captain), 4 Shane Kirkwood, 3 Ignatius Prinsloo, 2 Simon Westraadt, 1 Dewald Maritz.

Replacements: 16 Eduan Swart, 17 Ruan Kramer, 18 Etienne Janeke, 19 Kwanda Dimaza, 20 Phumzile Maqondwana, 21 Chriswill September, 22 Ali Mgijima, 23 Jade Stighling.

Referee: Marius van der Westhuizen

Assistant referees: Local appointments

TMO: Aimee Barrett-Theron