Kriel headlines Lions team to face Stormers

TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: The Lions have revealed their team to face the Stormers at Loftus Versfeld on SuperFan Saturday.

Bok flyhalf Elton Jantjies has been retained as captain in a side that sees a host of old stalwarts combined with some new faces.

Springbok Jaco Kriel has recovered fully from the injury that kept him sidelined earlier in the year and starts in the No.6 jersey.

Another Bok, Ruan Dreyer, is back from his stint overseas and will wear the No.3 jersey.

Some of the notable selections include Jaco Visagie in the No.2 jersey. In the backline, Burger Odendaal, Sibahle Maxwane and Divan Rossouw are the other new faces in the team.

EW Viljoen, a former Stormers midfielder, starts on the bench.

Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen said only three players are still carrying injuries that have prevented them from playing on Saturday.

They are utility forward Willem Alberts (bicep - a week away from return to play), prop Wiehan Herbst (hamstring- about 10 days away) and loose forward Roelof Smit (knee - two weeks away).

Lions: 15 Divan Rossouw, 14 Sibahle Maxwane, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Elton Jantjies (captain), 9 Andre Warner, 8 Hacjivah Dayimani, 7 Vincent Tshituka, 6 Jaco Kriel, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Ruben Schoeman, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 Dylan Smith.

Replacements - from: Sti Sithole, Jan-Henning Campher, Carlu Sadie, Wilhelm van der Sluys, Reinhard Nothnagel, MJ Pelser, Francke Horn, Len Massyn, Dillon Smit, Gianni Lombard, Stean Pienaar, Daniel Kriel, Manuel Rass, Jamba Ulengo, EW Viljoen.

Date: Saturday, September 26

Venue: Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria

Kick-off: 19.00 (17.00 GMT)

Referee: Marius van der Westhuizen

Assistant referees: Aimee Barrett-Theron, Morne Ferreira

TMO: Willie Vos